


I'm already tracer

by Ed_The_Smol_Bean



Category: DC - Fandom, Young Justice
Genre: First time posting here lol, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-26
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2020-05-20 01:35:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 27,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19367518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ed_The_Smol_Bean/pseuds/Ed_The_Smol_Bean
Summary: This story is also on fanfiction.net and WattpadRichard "Dick" Grayson runs away after his parents' death and the Joker finds him crying in an alley. He and Harley Quinn decide to raise Dick as their own and train him to become Renegade. Though a certain bat and his team aren't going to leave them aloneContains Birdflash!!!! Don't like don't read





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, guys so this is my first time posting anything here. I've posted this story on Fanfiction.net and Wattpad too.
> 
> I stan an active reader so please comment thx

5 years ago

A nine-year-old Dick Grayson had just witnessed the murder of his parents. He had screamed for his mom and dad as he pushed his way through the crowd surrounding the acrobats. Commissioner Gordon had tried to spare him the sight of the mangled bodies but Dick refused to be kept away from the scene. He needed to see them. The boy kneeled next to his mother, hugging her. He was getting blood on his clothes but he didn't care.  
"Mami! Tati! Întoarce-te. Vă rog" he begged. (Mommy! Daddy! Come back. Please)  
They didn't. Of course they didn't. They were dead. They would never come back. Deep inside Dick knew this, but he was in denial like any normal child would be. He didn't want to accept that his parents were gone forever.  
After a while, Gordon gently placed a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder.  
"The forensic scientists need to do their job. We should get out of their way" he explained softly.  
Dick reluctantly let himself be led to a pile of crates in the corner. Away from the crime scene. Dick sat down on one of the crates and Gordon sat next to him. Gordon took a small box out of his pocket. He opened it and put a few of the colorful candies in his mouth. Dick was eying the commissioner, debating whether he would ask if he could have one or not. Gordon must've noticed because he held out the box to the boy.  
"The green ones are the best," Gordon said.  
Dick picked up one of the green ones and put it in his mouth. It tasted like apples.  
"Thanks" Dick mumbled. 

About an hour later a woman in fancy clothes came up to the two.  
"Hello. My name is Cindy. I'm from child services. We have deemed it unfit for the child to continue living in the circus without his parents. Therefore we're putting him into the system. Unfortunately, all our orphanages are full so he will be temporarily put in the juvenile detention center" she said.  
Dick didn't really understand what she meant but from what he'd gathered he knew he would be taken away from the circus.  
"There aren't any foster homes either," Gordon asked.  
The lady shook her head.  
"Not at this short notice. Maybe in a week or so" she explained.  
She then turned to Dick.  
"Could you go pack your things. We should get going" she said.  
Dick nodded and ran off to his trailer. He took a quick look in the trailer and started putting the most important things into a bag laying on the floor. He packed his plushie named Peanut, his sketchbook, and his mother's necklace as a reminder of her. Lastly, he quickly changed into sweatpants and a hoodie, stuffing his suit in the bag. He threw on his shoes and swung the bag over his shoulders. He was about to open the door to the trailer when he heard the lady call for him outside. 

Truth to be told. Dick was never going to go with the lady in the first place. Now he had to find a way to escape without being noticed. He looked at the small window. That was his escape. He opened the window and climbed out, making as little noise as possible. He almost thought he'd made it, he was already on the ground, when he lost his balance and stumbled into the wall of the trailer. There was a bang and the lady quickly made her way towards Dick.  
"Richard? Is that you?"  
Dick started running. He just hoped he was faster than the lady. He saw the high fence surrounding the area about twenty meters away. If he managed to get there he'd be fine. He knew that he could climb it and he doubted the lady could in her stilettos.  
Dick reached the fence and started to climb.  
He was already at the top when the lady got there.  
"Richard, please come back! It's going to be okay. We're going to find you a good home, " the lady pleaded.  
Dick almost felt bad for her. She didn't seem like a bad person. She was just doing her job.  
Dick let his bag drop to the ground on the other side and proceeded to jump off of the fence, landing and rolling. He glanced at the lady on the other side before sprinting away. Far away.

~~~

Dick collapsed in an alley. He was wheezing from running for so long and his legs were burning. He leaned against the wall for support but it didn't help much as his legs gave up under him and he slid down the wall. He brought his knees to his chest and hugged them tightly. He could taste that metallic taste you get when you've been running really long.  
As minutes passed his breathing slowly became more normal. He managed to somewhat relax, letting his shoulders fall and lean his head back against the wall. 

Now that Dick had some time alone his mind started processing the night's events. Reality came crashing down and he started sobbing again.  
'It's my fault' Dick though.  
'I should've told them about Zucco. Maybe then they wouldn't be dead'.

He continued to cry, letting all the pain out. His sobs echoed in the alley and every so often he would have to cover his mouth when someone walked past.  
He'd probably been sitting there for at least an hour when he heard laughter. Dick pressed against the wall, trying to blend in with the darkness. He clenched his jaw in an attempt to stop the sobs. He sat completely still as a green-haired man and a blonde woman walked past. The man had his arm around the woman's shoulder. Dick assumed they were a couple. 

When the pair had disappeared from Dick's view he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. 

Suddenly the man stepped into the alley. Dick flinched and made himself as small as possible. The man crouched in front of Dick.  
"Hey, kiddo. What're you doing out here all alone". The man asked.  
Dick didn't answer. He was scared of the man. The makeup made him look creepy.  
The man facepalmed when he realized the child was scared of him.  
"Harley! Come here". He called.  
The blonde woman appeared. She walked up to Dick and ran a hand through his hair.  
"Hi, kid. My name is Harley. This is my boyfriend, Joker" she motioned to the man.  
"We won't hurt you. We want to help you, but it would help if you talked to us. Can you do that for me?" Harley asked, smiling softly.  
Dick nodded, trusting Harley's kind voice.  
"Okay. So why are you here alone?" she asked.  
"M-my parents. They..they're dead. A-and a woman wanted t-to take me away from th-the circus. S-so I ran" Dick explained.  
Harley pulled Dick into a hug.  
"I'm sorry about your parents," she said.  
"Puddin. Can we keep him?" she suddenly asked.  
Joker looked taken aback for a moment before grinning widely.  
"That's a great idea! We need someone to carry out the legacy after all".  
He then turned to Dick.  
"What do you say, kid? You want us to be your new parents?" he asked, offering his hand to the boy.  
Dick hesitated. He liked Harley but Joker still creeped him out. Though if Harley trusted him then he was okay, right? Besides. He had no one left. He couldn't go back to the circus, and if he stayed on the streets he wouldn't even last a day before he was found. Dick glanced at Harley who was smiling encouragingly and feeling determined, he grabbed Joker's hand. 

If only he had known the mess his life was going to be...


	2. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dick, or rather Renegade, gets something special for his birthday and crashes a party

Present time Dick's Pov

"Ren! Come here!" dad called.   
I paused my game and dragged my perfect ass away from my couch. I made my way into the kitchen where I found mom making pancakes and dad cleaning a gun. They both looked up when I entered.  
"Hey, kid! Guess what day it is" dad said.   
I was well aware but I played along anyway.  
"No idea. What day could it possibly be?" I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.   
"Why it's your birthday, of course," dad laughed.   
"Happy birthday, dear," mom said, placing a plate filled with pancakes in front of me.   
"Thanks, mom" I thanked her.  
Mom and dad got themselves some pancakes too.  
"Do you want your gift now?" dad asked, hiding something behind his back.   
I nodded excitedly, mouth full of pancakes.   
Dad threw something in my direction and I caught it in one hand. It was the gun he'd just been cleaning. It was a black ALFA combat 9mm handgun with royal-blue details. When I turned the gun there was a small inscription in silver that read "Renegade" in cursive. I stared at the gun in awe. I couldn't believe dad knew exactly what I wanted. I'd been begging for my own gun for three years now and dad had always said 'when you get older'.   
"Thank you so much, dad. I love it!" I exclaimed, literally hugging the gun.   
"Glad you like it, kiddo," dad said. 

I finished my food pretty fast since I wanted to get back to my game. I put my plate and stuff in the sink and started heading to my room, but dad called me back.  
"Actually there's one more surprise for you. I'm giving you your first mission"  
I almost fainted then and there. Sure, I'd helped mom and dad with simple stuff before, hiding in the shadows and taking out enemies silently, but now I was going on a real mission.   
"Really? Oh my god! Tell me, tell me, tell me"  
I was practically jumping up and down at this point.   
"Geez! Calm down, Ren" dad laughed.   
I stopped jumping around and leaned on the table. Dad started telling me about the mission.  
"Bruce Wayne is hosting some rich-boy party and I think that's a perfect opportunity to introduce Renegade to the world. There will be a lot of money and jewelry so you're going to crash the party and steal as much as you can. I convinced Selina to distract Batsy so hopefully, he will be out of your way. When you're done Harley and I will be waiting for you two blocks away in the car. Got everything?" dad finished.   
I nodded. I was thrilled to have such an important mission.   
"When's the party," I asked.   
"It starts around seven but most guests will probably arrive closer to eight" dad explained.   
I looked at the time. It was now 1:23 pm. That meant I had a few hours to play overwatch before the mission. 

~~~

I was currently sneaking around on the roof of the Wayne Manor. It was about 8:40 pm and the party was just starting to get real. Up til now, the guests had only sipped on their drinks but now they were starting to loosen up, drinking more, and acting like children. If I waited another 30 minutes they'd be drunk as fuck, which would make my mission so much easier. So that's what I did.   
The roof didn't exactly offer any entertainment so I ended up doing the knife song with one of my daggers. I missed a few times, digging the dagger into my glove. Luckily the glove took most of the blow and the wound itself wasn't anything more than a scratch. It still stung a bit though. 

By the time 30 minutes had passed I had switched to the knife flip song. While the song only did four flips I had to be a show-off (to who though? I was alone) and do seven flips. I managed to not cut my hand off.   
My phone buzzed in my pocket, letting me know it was time. I slid the dagger back into its place in my belt and brought up a blueprint of the manor on my hologlove. It was almost too easy to hack the security systems. They were all very high-tech (latest Wayne enterprises tech), which was much easier to hack and corrupt than older stuff. It took me about a minute to get through all the firewalls, and another minute to shut down the security systems. I also turned off the lights while I was at it. Screams were heard from inside when the manor suddenly was enveloped in darkness. I smirked. Messing with people was so much fun. I made my way to the edge of the roof. There was a large window right underneath me, leading directly to the large room where the party was being held. I grabbed the downspout and swung myself into the window, successfully shattering it. The guests screamed, some covering their heads to protect themselves from glass shards. I grabbed one of the hilariously long curtains and slid down to the floor. I pressed a button on my hologlove, turning the lights back on. I walked towards the stairs, cartwheeling a few times along the way. The people were making way for me, probably scared of what might happen if they didn't. I climbed a few steps and turned to face the crowd. I cleared my throat.   
"Hello, guys, gals, and nonbinary pals. Don't panic 'cause nobody's gonna die..., unless you panic. Then you will most definitely die" I yelled over the guests mumbling.   
Never before had I seen a full room of at least two hundred people quiet down this fast. You could hear someone drop a needle.  
"Who are you?" a middle-aged man asked.   
Pretty brave of him to assume I wouldn't blow his brains out for asking annoying questions. On second thought that actually sounded like a pretty good idea.   
"Well, dear sir. I'm Renegade, ruler of the nine realms, high warlock, peacekeeper, bringer of death, king of Asgard, high functioning sociopath, timelord, god of mischief, genius. But you can call me Ren" I said with a wink.  
The man looked dissatisfied. I wonder why. 

Someone snickered before quickly being silenced by his friends. I turned to them. A guy around my age with red hair was being glared at by two girls and two guys. The redhead was pretty cute, and damn the black haired guy was ripped af. I would let him pound me any day. To be honest I would let any of them pound me. All three of them were extremely attractive. The girls were okay, but if you haven't figured it out already, I'm as straight as a ramen noodle.   
"Oh, would you look at that. Ron Weasley enjoys my jokes" I said.   
Weasley, as I had named him in my mind, tried to say something, probably about the nickname, but was stopped by the blonde girl.   
"Not now, Wally" she hissed.   
Wally, huh. A cute name for a cute face. Though I bet it was just a nickname for Wallace or something.

I turned back to the crowd. I heard Wally's friend sigh in relief. She probably thought I was going to shoot them.   
"As much as I love hanging with all of you I need you to put all your money and jewelry in the bag," I said and threw an IKEA-bag onto the floor.  
Nobody moved until I fired my gun in the air. People immediately started filling the bag with wallets, earrings, necklaces, etc.   
Wally and his friends didn't. They were still standing awkwardly in the same spot. I didn't think much of it though. They probably weren't rich anyway and lived off their parent's reputation. I bet the most valuable thing they had on them was the blond girl's earrings, and I recognized them from Amazon where they were 12 bucks. 

When the bag was full I swung it over my shoulder and walked back to the smashed window. I took out my grappling hook and shot it towards the ceiling right by the window where it got stuck. I was about to press the button that would pull me up when a hand was placed on my shoulder. I spun around, gun ready, and came face to face with one of Wally's friends.   
"Let go" I demanded, cocking the gun.   
He didn't even flinch like this was something he did on a regular basis. Instead, he looked me dead in the eyes and said.  
"You don't have to do this. We can help you"   
I stared at him in disbelief. How stupid was he? Was he even aware that I could literally shoot him any second? His friends seemed to think he was stupid too because they had rushed over, concern on their faces.   
"Stay where you are, please," I told them.   
They stopped in their tracks.  
"Kaldur! Get your ass back here" blondie hissed.   
That's when it clicked. Kaldur was Aqualad. Because honestly, who else was called Kaldur. It was such a stupid name.   
Now that I had this information it was easy to recognize the rest of the team. Honestly, I was disappointed in myself for not recognizing Superboy sooner. I mean, the guy literally didn't do anything to hide his identity. Then I realized I basically admitted to wanting to fuck half the team. Finally, I realized they couldn't do anything since they weren't in their suits, and that gave me an advantage. 

"Get. Your. Hand. Off. Of. Me. Aqualad" I hissed, low enough so that he was the only one who heard.   
His eyes went wide and he opened his mouth in shock. Strangely enough, his friends had the same reaction. Then it hit me that they probably had a mind link. The Martian could do that stuff, right? Anyway. Aqualad still didn't remove his hand.   
Yes, I know I could've just slapped his hand away but I wanted him to move his hand. I wanted to be in control. Is that weird? Maybe. Okay, now I'm questioning my sanity.   
"We can help you. We don't want to fight you. I know there's good in you. You can trust us" Aqualad pleaded.   
I almost laughed. He wanted me, a killing, crazy teen, to trust him, a super cliche good guy who, mind you, was against killing.   
"Bitch, please. I killed eight people just this week. Besides. I gotta bring the loot to dad and I can't be late" I scoffed.  
Kaldur started saying something that sounded an awful lot like an apology. Why was he sorry? I didn't need his pity.   
"I don't want the pity of a bunch if righteous sidekicks, so piss off before I actually kill someone"

Suddenly there was a flash and I was on the ground. Wally was standing on top of me. He was wearing a hoodie and sunglasses in an attempt to hide his identity. The rest of the team gathered around me. I looked up at Wally and saw him holding my gun... WAIT!! When the hell did he get my gun??   
"EVERYONE EVACUATE" Aqualad yelled.   
The whole room was empty in about a minute thanks to the multiple exits in the manor. Now it was only me and the team. I was fucked. Now they could fight me freely. I decided to pretend to surrender. I threw my hands up.  
"Okay, I surrender! You got me" I said.   
The team looked at me confused. I sighed.   
"You won! It's not like I can fight all of you," I said with a cheeky grin.   
Wally leaned closer, keeping eye contact. He was probably trying to see if I was lying.  
An idea, a very stupid one, was starting to take form. But to be fair, all my ideas were stupid. I grabbed Wally's collar and before he could react I pulled him closer and kissed him right on those perfect lips.


	3. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren escapes the team and plays some Overwatch

Wally stumbled back, completely frozen in shock. The others weren't much better. They were all staring at me and Wally. I swear, saltwater was gaping like a fish.   
While I still had the chance I kicked Wally's feet from under him. I got up, grabbed the IKEA bag and picked up my grappling hook from the floor. I pressed the button and was lifted into the air.   
This apparently got the team moving. Aqualad tried to hit me with his water-thingies and Artemis shot an arrow, that barely missed, might I add. I don't know what the fuck Superboy and Miss M were doing. Wally was still in shock though. His mouth was wide open and he was still laying on the floor, staring at the ceiling. 

I swung through the previously shattered window and lowered myself to the ground. I pressed another button on the grappling hook and the hook was released from the ceiling, snapping back into its place in the barrel of the gun.

I started running. The bag was bouncing uncomfortably on my back and constantly kept slipping off my shoulder, making it hard to keep a steady pace.   
Seeing as I was weighed down by the loot and couldn't run my fastest it was no surprise when I heard the team closing in. Wally must've still been in shock, I guessed, as he hadn't run ahead of the others, easily catching me within seconds. 

I rounded a corner and hid in an alley. I pressed myself against the wall, subconsciously holding my breath. A sudden feeling of deja-vu washed over me but I brushed it off. I couldn't get distracted now.   
A few moments later the team ran right past me. They didn't even think to look in the alley. I waited until I was sure they wouldn't come back before exiting the alley and continuing towards the meetup spot. 

I recognized dad's car immediately. Dad, who was in the driver seat, waved at me, grinning widely when he saw me. I reached the car and climbed into the backseat, dumping the loot bag on the seat next to me.   
"The sidekicks are looking for me" I informed dad.   
Dad nodded, showing he heard me, started the car and began driving. He was actually doing a pretty good job driving like a normal person-he usually drove way over the speed limit and often came dangerously close to crashing- and was avoiding looking suspicious.   
We got home safely. The smell of steak hit me as soon as I opened the door.  
'Why are you having dinner at 10 pm?' you might ask.  
Hell if I know. It's probably something mom and dad did way before they got me.   
"Honey, I'm home" dad called.   
"Welcome back puddin'" mom shouted back.   
Dad took the loot to the basement where we kept everything of value until we could sell it, and I went to take a quick shower. 

I left my boots, mask, gloves, belt, etc. in my room and picked out clean clothes before making my way to the bathroom. I made sure to lock the door, not wanting another "incident" to occur. And NO! We're not talking about the incident.   
I took off my suit and tossed it in the laundry basket. Hopefully, it would be clean and dry next time I needed it.   
I took a look in the mirror and was surprised to see a small cut on my right cheek. I guessed some of the glass from the window had hit me. The cut wasn't deep, probably wouldn't even leave a scar.

I stepped into the shower and turned on the water. I immediately flinched when the water came in contact with my cheek. It felt like a paper cut. And you guys know how painful those little shits are. I swear, I could get tortured and not care at all, but if I got a paper cut I would be crying on the floor for eternity.   
I decided to suck it up and let the water hit my face, silently cursing Wayne for having windows.   
I didn't want to torture myself further by getting soap in the cut so just water had to do. The rest of my body would need a little more than some H2O though. I reached for my soap but couldn't find it. I groaned when I realized I'd used the last bit yesterday and the only other soap was some fancy vegan and cruelty-free soap that smelled like mango and aloe vera. And I did not want to smell like that. But it seemed like I had no other choice. There goes my dignity I guess. 

~~~

When I entered the kitchen the food was already on the table. I swung by the fridge and grabbed a coke on my way to my seat. I plopped down on the chair and hungrily eyed the food.  
"It looks delicious, mom," I commented.   
"Thank you, sweety," she said, smiling. 

The dinner went by smoothly. That is until dad decided to bring up the mission.   
"So, Ren, I heard you encountered the sidekicks today. Mind telling us how you defeated them?" dad asked.   
Mom's face lit up.   
"Oh, you did? You must tell me everything" she insisted.   
Knowing I wouldn't get out of this I began explaining the evening's events. I came to the part where Wally had me pinned down and my face was red as a tomato when I mentioned the kiss. Dad choked on his beer and mom squealed loudly.   
"Oh my god! I'm so proud! My baby is growing up." mom shouted, hugging my face.  
Dad, who wasn't choking anymore joined in on mom's fangirling.   
"Their ship name could be Reneflash!" mom exclaimed.  
She was way too proud of the ship name since it honestly sucked ass, but I was too tired to argue about it. I just sat there eating my dinner while my parents were behaving like children on Tumblr.   
After about twenty minutes I interrupted their fangirling.  
"Can I leave the table?"   
"Yeah, sure honey. Remember to rinse your plate" mom said before continuing to fangirl.   
I did just that and escaped to my room, cradling the rest of my precious coke.   
I threw myself onto my couch and reached for the ps4 controller. I turned on the ps4 which automatically turned on the tv as well.   
I decided to play Overwatch. While the game loaded I got my headphones and turned them on.  
I was browsing the custom games, not looking for anything in particular. There was a "Fortnite" game mode. I made a disgusted face. Why the fuck would you ruin a perfectly good game with your Fortnite bullshit? There was also a low gravity game. That would have to do. I chose to play as Junkrat. I was put on the red team with a Widowbitch, a Tracer, a Genji, and, thank god, a McCree. The blue team had all their players so we only needed one more, but for now, we were waiting in Skirmish. We only had to wait for a few minutes though. The guy that had joined was playing as Ana. In other words, our team was useless. We were being crushed by the other team. The McCree and I were the only ones on our team who had even gotten a kill, let alone an objective kill. To no one's surprise, we lost the game. I was ready to just leave when the McCree guy sent me a friend request. I accepted and was immediately invited to a mic chat. I accepted once more.   
"Hey, dude! What's up, random Junkrat guy?" an oddly familiar voice asked.   
Now his username made sense.  
"What? Is my username too hard to pronounce? Anyway, nothing's really up 'That_One_Fast_Dude'" I replied. 'Wow, way to be obvious, Wally' I thought.   
"Yeah, no. Just too lazy to check" Wally said  
There was a pause. Wally was probably checking my username.   
"So your name is 'LucifersBro221B'" he said.  
"Yup! That's me" 

We had a pretty good time after that. We stayed as a team the whole time, occasionally getting another member on the team for a few games.   
After almost four hours Wally had to go.   
"Sorry, man. I've got to go after this game, but we can play again tomorrow. Right?" Wally asked.  
"Yeah, I'll probably be free in the afternoon" I replied. 

We finished the game. Our team won and I got POTG with D.Va's ultimate. Wally and I said our goodbyes and I was about to log off when Wally suddenly asked: "Random question but where do you live?"  
"I live in Gotham" I replied.  
"Dude! I live in Central. That's not too far away. Maybe we could hang out once we get to know each other a bit" Wally suggested.   
"Yeah. That sounds like fun" I agreed.   
I then logged off and decided to go to bed since it was about three in the morning.   
I changed into my pj's, which was just a plain gray shirt. I then buried myself under my covers. I was out cold in minutes.


	4. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren plays overwatch

When I awoke in the morning, well not really morning as it was almost 1 pm, it was very quiet in the house. Not a single sound indicated that mom and dad were up, which I knew they were because they somehow always woke up at 7 am, no matter what. I just assumed they were working. I wouldn't be surprised if they were on the news today.   
I was considering just staying in bed forever when my stomach growled. Dam you, human needs.  
I didn't bother to change out of my pajamas so in just boxers and an oversized shirt I made my way to the kitchen. There was a pink post-it note on the table. 

We're working today  
Well be back pretty late so don't worry

Ps. There's breakfast on the stove and lunch money on the counter   
-Mom <3 

There was indeed a plate of pancakes on the stove. They were most likely cold by now but pancakes are pancakes and I'll be damned if I ever turn down pancakes. 

After drenching the pancakes in syrup I dug in. It tasted just as heavenly as usual, despite the fact that they were made several hours ago. They were still a bit dry though, so I poured myself a glass of green ice tea.   
It didn't take long to finish the pancakes and after cleaning up after myself I went back to my room and dramatically fell onto my bed. I wasn't even that tired. I just didn't want to deal with the world today.   
I pulled out my phone and my thumb hovered over the icons, not really sure what I wanted to do. Finally, I decided to watch YouTube. I saw that Jacksepticeye had uploaded another 'Jacksepticeye's funniest home videos'. Those were always funny. 

~~~

About three hours later I put my phone down after I'd somehow ended up on the weird side of YouTube.  
I sighed loudly and looked around my room for something else to do but nothing appealed me right now.  
I almost considered reading a book when, thankfully, I remembered I'd promised Wally to play Overwatch with him today. Seeing as it was already 4 pm I figured he'd be home from school by now. I eagerly turned everything on and sent him a message.

'hey m8 u up for some overwatch??' 

Wally replied almost immediately. He must've already been playing something.

'yaas my current team sucks!! I'll leave and join u' 

I sent Wally an invitation to the mic chat and he joined.   
"Hey man! what do you wanna play?" he asked.  
"How about a bunch of quick plays. I need to practice other heroes anyway" I suggested.  
"Yeah! Let's do that. I need some practice too" Wally agreed.

There wasn't really much to tell about the quick plays. We lost some, but ultimately, we won most of them. Some 'Thanatos_Ultima' dude joined us after a few games. He sounded like he was 12, especially when he started screaming and crying over the tiniest things. We would've kicked him out but he was pretty good at the game so for the sake of victory we let him stay. Plus it was kind of amusing when a girl, probably his sis, told him to shut the fuck up. Short after that, we lost the game. Suddenly there was a loud crack in the mic chat that scared the shit out of Wally. A high pitched shriek was heard through the mic. It was quiet for a moment before I heard the girl's voice.   
"Jesus Christ! I'm so sorry about that. He threw the mic" she apologized.   
"No worries mate," I said.   
"Mind if I join you. I'm not really that good though" she then asked.   
"Yeah! No problem. We're honestly just practicing different heroes at the moment so you'll be fine" Wally said excitedly.  
As the next game begun she picked Reaper, I picked Moira and Wally picked Genji.   
The girl was actually pretty good at the game, and honestly, it was so much nicer without that screaming kid.

~~~

The girl had left after about three hours but Wally and I had continued playing for another two.   
"Hey, dude! We should totally exchange phone numbers or something. You have Whatsapp, right?" Wally asked.   
I thought about it for a few moments. I didn't really give my number out to people. I basically only had mom and dad in my contacts. On the other hand, this wasn't some random dude. This was Wally. I could make an exception for him, right?   
"Yeah, sure! Let's do that" I answered.   
"Do you have your phone with you?" Wally asked.   
I replied with a 'yeah'.   
Wally told me his number and I added him to my contacts.   
"By the way, what should I call you," I asked since Wally couldn't know I knew who he was.   
"My name's Wally. What's yours?" he asked.  
"Robin" I blurted out.   
I had no idea where that came from, but it was the first thing I could think of and it'd have to work.  
"Cool! It'll be a lot easier to talk now" Wally said.   
"Yeah" I agreed. 

We only had time for two more games before Wally had to leave.   
"Man, I swear they're keeping me busy on purpose just so Conner can watch his stupid static" he complained.   
"Why the fuck does he watch static?" I asked, genuinely curious.  
"No one knows, man. Not even Conner. It'll forever remain a mystery" Wally laughed.   
We said our goodbyes and Wally promised he would text me when he got away from whatever he was supposed to be doing.  
It had gotten pretty late by now so I decided to stop playing for today and watch Netflix instead. I had a few shows that I'd only watched halfway through since I was always finding new shows to watch. I decided to watch Supernatural since I had about six seasons to catch up on.


	5. 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren goes shopping and has a Flashback

It had been about a week since Wally and I exchanged phone numbers, and he'd been texting me non-stop. His texts consisted of everything from a 'good morning' to all the deep shit about his friends. 

I'd thought it would get annoying very quickly, but strangely enough, I found myself rushing to my phone as soon as it went off, hoping it would be Wally. I simply brushed it off as a result of not having any friends other than Wally. And I had to admit, I too was texting a lot. Mostly replies to Wally's texts but sometimes something random popped into my head and I just had to tell someone, often at three in the morning. 

The texting was also a cure for my boredom. I had learned a few days ago that mom and dad got caught and were now in Arkham, so I hadn't had another mission since last week and the house was getting pretty lonely.

My phone beeped.

Wally had texted to tell me he'd be out all day. My guess was that the team had a mission. This meant I would be bored all day. And while I could track his phone (if he brought it) and stalk him a bit, I didn't really feel like it. 

Lunch suddenly sounded like a very good idea.  
I made my way into the kitchen and opened the fridge, only to find one single apple. Sad.   
I brought the apple back to my room and ate it while watching something on YouTube. It was a truly disappointing lunch. 

~~~

For the first time in four days, I decided to leave the house. I had a few things to do anyway. The fridge was basically empty and I wanted a digital drawing tablet. So I got dressed in black skinny jeans, a red hoodie, fingerless gloves, and black combat boots. I considered putting on a beanie but decided not to. I checked my pockets for my phone and keys and slammed the front door shut. 

The mall was about ten minutes away and the walk there was quite pleasant, mainly because for once it wasn't raining. Hell, the sun was even shining.   
I was singing quietly while I walked, earning a few glances from people passing. 

Once I reached the mall I was completely lost, seeing as I hadn't been here in two years (I mostly ordered online). Luckily there was a small map by the elevator, showing which stores were on what floor.   
The two stores I needed were as far away from each other they could be. Just my luck.   
I decided to get the drawing tablet first, as I didn't really want to carry around groceries.

The electronic store was crowded. I soon found out why. Apparently, Wayne tech released something new today and there was some kind of lottery. At least, that's what a poster on the wall said.   
Not being interested in whatever was happening I tapped an employee on the shoulder. 

"Hey, I was looking for a drawing tablet. Can you recommend something" I asked.   
The employee, a friendly-looking 30+ guy, smiled politely and said to follow him. 

The drawing tablets were by the wall opposite of the entrance, all stacked neatly in locked shelves. In front of the shelves was a row of different tablets so you could try them. 

"So do you want a professional or something else? And what size would you like?" the employee asked.   
I'd thought about this on the way here.  
"Professional, please. And do you have any that are like an A4 page?" I replied.   
The employee thought for a moment before gesturing towards three different tablets.   
"The two to the left are exactly the size of an A4 and the one on the right is half an inch smaller. They are all very professional and this one-" he pointed at the one in the middle "-comes with an extra pen"

I decided to try all three of them.

Seventeen minutes later I exited the store with a brand new drawing tablet, paid for with a stolen credit card.   
Then I suddenly bumped into someone, almost making me drop the tablet. I managed to regain my balance and looked up, ready to cuss out whoever had the audacity to bump into me. However, I did not expect Bruce Wayne to start blurting out an apology.

"Shit, sorry! That was totally my fault"  
He looked really awkward. I bet the author was tempted to make him scratch his neck.   
The slight shock diminished and I realized I should probably say something.  
"Uh, it's fine. No..um..no worries" I stuttered out.   
Since when do I stutter???  
I started walking away when another of my truly brilliant ideas hit me. 

"By the way, nice party last week," I said ominously, before hurrying away.  
I almost considered hiding and seeing if he figures it out, but it felt like a waste of time. Besides, I still had grocery shopping to do. 

~~~

I exited the mall half an hour later with three plastic bags. If my calculations were correct, why wouldn't they be, this food would last me about two weeks, as long as mom and dad stayed in Arkham. I was pretty sure they could break out anytime but dad sometimes had weird elaborate plans that involved getting thrown into Arkham. He rarely told me about his plans if they didn't involve me, so all I could do was make guesses.

I started thinking back to when I discovered what they were doing for a living.

___

It was just under a year after they first found me, so I must've been around nine. Back then I barely talked unless spoken to, and I was still a bit shy around my new parents. 

I had asked them a few times what their jobs were but they'd always told me they handled money for rich people, which I knew was a lie. Contrary to popular belief the Joker and his queen were actually terrible liars. 

Anyhow, one day I was going to watch some tv and the news channel happened to be on. I didn't really care for the news but the familiar green hair had caught my attention. When I looked closer it was clear that mom and dad were on the news. And they were robbing a bank. 

To be honest, I wasn't really shocked. I already knew their morals weren't the best, and their constant avoidance of questions concerning their jobs was way too suspicious, even for a nine-year-old. 

I spent the rest of the day trying to figure out how to tell mom and dad that I knew. Different outcomes played in my head and I thought I had everything planned out. But when they came home and called me for dinner I panicked and blurted out in the least smooth way possible.  
"So..You robbed a bank today"

There was complete silence for a moment before dad burst out laughing. Out of all the outcomes I had imagined this was certainly not one of them. 

Dad managed to stop laughing, but only after mom hit the back of his head, scolding him for being rude. 

"I'm sorry, kid. It's just that I didn't expect this conversation to go like this" he apologized.  
"How did you find out?" mom asked.

I was really surprised. I thought they were going to be mad, but they just seemed amused.

"Well, I was gonna watch tv and ended up watching the news" I explained.  
I must've looked pretty nervous because dad was quick to reassure me.   
"No worries. We were going to tell you sooner or later anyway. This just speeds up the process a bit"

Now I was just confused.  
"what process?"   
"Come on, it's late. Well talk more in the morning" mom said.  
No matter how curious I was, she was right. I was really tired. So without complaints, i went to bed.


	6. 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet aunt Ivy and Ren makes plans with Wally

Two weeks later

Mom and dad finally broke out. It was all over the news. Apparently, they weren't the only ones to escape. There had been a mass breakout. Mostly smaller criminals I'd never heard of, but also a few of dad's friends. 

They'd probably be home soon. Maybe I should ask them to get taco bell on the way here, since the fridge was, once again, empty.

Ren: 12:13 pm  
Can you get Taco Bell on the way 

Mom: 12:17 pm  
Sure!

Mom: 12:17 pm  
Same as usual?

Ren: 12:18 pm  
Yeah

Mom: 12:19 pm  
We'll be home in maybe 30 min

Ren: 12:19 pm  
K

Score!  
I hadn't had taco bell in at least a month. 

Approximately half an hour later the front door opened, and the greasy smell of tacos made my mouth water and my stomach growl. I rushed to the door and offered to take the food. 

I set the food down on the table and mom and dad entered the room. But there was a third person behind them. 

"Aunt Ivy!" I shrieked as I tackle-hugged her.  
Luckily she's really strong, or else we would've fallen to the floor.  
I hadn't seen Ivy in months since she'd been stuck in Arkham. Technically she should be my second mom and not aunt because she and mom had a thing going on a while back, but aunt was less confusing. 

Once I was done hugging we sat down to eat. I noticed Ivy wasn't wearing her usual outfit, but instead sported a black long sleeved shirt and mom jeans that she somehow made look good. Probably because her usual outfit looked super uncomfortable. Mom and dad still had their costumes on, though dad didn't really count since he didn't own any "normal" clothes, and mom had thrown on a blue hoodie. And while we're talking about clothes anyway, I was wearing my pyjama shirt and sweatpants. Fancy, I know. 

"So how's my favourite nephew been?" Ivy asked.  
"I'm pretty sure I'm your only nephew, aunt Ivy" I chuckled.  
Ivy waved me off and insisted I answered her question. 

Well, dad gave me my first actual mission a few weeks ago, and I fought the sidekick-team" I told her.  
Dad then decided now was a good time to discuss my love life.  
"He kissed one of them" 

I immediately wished I had my gun so I could shoot myself in the face. 

"Oh my god! Who?" Ivy demanded.  
"Kid Flash" I mumbled.  
"Didn't quite hear that" Ivy teased.  
"I kissed Kid Flash, okay!" 

And with that, I grabbed the rest of my food and went to my room to avoid further embarrassment.

As much as I loved my family I wasn't going to listen to them fangirling over my nonexistent relationship with Wally. I had kissed him as a distraction to get out of the situation, and it had worked. Nothing more. I mean, why would it be anything more. Yeah, I had admitted to wanting to do the frickle-frackle with him, but that didn't mean I liked him. Right? The kiss did feel really good. I wonder what it would've felt like if he'd kissed back. No! I shouldn't think like that. I couldn't allow myself to fall for the enemy. It was bad enough that I already considered him a friend. And even if Wally liked me as Robin he would hate me the second he found out who I really was.  
The nacho chip in my hand broke. 

Oops.

I pushed away every single thought about Wally and threw them in the trash along with the destroyed chip. Metaphorically, of course. You can't physically throw thoughts. 

I settled on my bed, leaning against a mountain of pillows, and decided to, you guessed it, watch something on Netflix. I wonder if the author will ever give me an actual hobby.  
The internet had recently been obsessed with this show, "The Umbrella Academy" so I was going to jump on the bandwagon and binge-watch the whole thing. From what I'd seen on Tumblr Klaus seemed pretty funny. A bit like me. 

As much as I'd wanted to watch non-stop I was interrupted five minutes into the second episode by three knocks on my door.  
"Come in" I groaned.  
Ivy stepped inside and I paused the episode.  
"Sorry about earlier. I got a bit carried away" she apologized.  
"It's fine. I probably overreacted too" I replied. 

Ivy sat down next to me on my bed.  
"What are you watching?" she asked.  
I pointed at the screen where the title was clearly visible.  
"It's pretty cool. Wanna watch with me? I'm only on the second episode so you shouldn't be too lost" I offered.  
Ivy reached over and stole two pillows and made herself comfortable. I took that as a 'yes'.

~~~

I must've fallen asleep while watching because I woke up leaning uncomfortably against the wall with a blanket draped over me. The tv had been shut off.  
I tried to sit up, but my back ached in protest. That's what you get for not sleeping like a normal human being. 

I kinda just wanted to go back to sleep but my phone started ringing. I tiredly reached over my bed and felt for my phone on the floor, where the noise was coming from. I already knew it was Wally. Mom and dad were the only others who even had my number.  
Wally had been calling more often the last few days.  
I answered the call.  
"Hi, Wally! What's up?"  
I tried to sound more cheerful than I actually felt, but Wally didn't buy it.  
"Okay, what's wrong?" he demanded.  
I sighed loudly, and before I knew it I was spilling all the tea.  
"I'm just tired 'cause I didn't get enough sleep last night, and my aunt is visiting"  
"Is she one of those aunts?"  
"Nah. She's just a bit immature, and now my parents have convinced her that I'm in a relationship with this guy I've literally met once"  
"Dude, what?" Wally sounded amused.  
"Exactly! You see what I have to live with?"  
Wally chuckled I the other end.  
"Not funny" I hissed. 

Suddenly there was a weird 'woosh' sound on Wally's end.  
"Hey, Wally! Who're you talking to? Is it that boy you're obsessed with?" a new voice said.  
Wally immediately sounded panicked.  
"Barry, shut up! He's on speaker! He can hear you!"  
Laughter was heard on the other end.  
"Well, in that case, I have to say hi, right?"  
"Barry, no! I'm telling Iris" 

'Barry' ignored Wally's threats. 

"What's up I'm Barry. Wally's my nephew, and omgwallyhasbeentalkingaboutyounonstopandhestotallyinlovewithyou" 

Barry was talking really fast. Like, Flash fast. Then I connected the dots. Barry as in Barry Allen.  
I found out Flash's identity a while back when I made a deal with Leonard Snart, but I had no idea he was Wally's uncle. 

Anyway. Barry had realized his mistake and repeated the sentence slower.  
"You talk about me, Wally?" I asked teasingly.  
"Like once or twice. Barry is making it sound much worse" Wally desperately defended himself.  
"Whatever you say, " Barry then asked me "What's your name, kid?"  
"I'm Robin" I said.  
"Well, nice to meet you, Robin"  
He then left. 

Wally let out a groan.  
"That was literally the worst timing ever"  
"What do you mean? I thought it was perfect" I chuckled.  
"He's gonna tease me about this for weeks"  
Wally sounded miserable.  
"Then give me a call and I'll kick his ass" I offered.  
Wally laughed on the other end. 

"Changing the topic completely, I called to ask you something. A few of my friends and I are going to Gotham tomorrow and I was wondering if you wanted to join"  
I was thrilled. I was going to hang out with Wally like a normal teenager. No killing, or fighting. Just hanging out.

"Yeah! I'll come. Where and when should we meet?" I asked.  
"Well, one of my friends go to Gotham Academy and we're meeting her there at three-ish. Is that good?"  
"Yeah! Perfect! I'll be there" "look for a pink hoodie" I added when I remembered he didn't know what I looked like.  
"Nice! See you"  
"Bye"

And with that, we hang up.


	7. 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren goes out and meets Jason

The rest of the day felt like an eternity. I was restless. Even drawing, which usually was almost therapeutic for me, was frustrating me. The drawing should've only taken an hour or two, but here I was, almost six hours later, still working on the same fucking drawing. I just couldn't get it right. No matter what I did it looked weird. When I got the urge to throw something I decided enough was enough. 

Maybe mom had something for me to do. I could hear her messing around in the kitchen. I could probably help. 

"Hi, mom," I said when I entered.  
"How are you sweety?" she asked without looking up from her dishes.   
"Super bored. I feel like I could explode from boredom" I complained.   
Mom chuckled.   
"Tell you what. I'll give you some cash and you can go out to eat. Your dad and I have leftovers in the fridge"   
Now that she mentioned food I was actually kind of hungry.   
"Thanks, mom"

I changed into some semi-clean clothes and tried to smooth out the bird's nest that was my hair.

Mom handed me some money on the way out. Two $20 bills. That was a lot for food. I could buy like 40 cheeseburgers. 

~~~

I had taken the subway into the city because that's where all the good restaurants were. And by good, I mean McDonald's, Burger King, Taco Bell, KFC, etc.   
I couldn't really choose where I wanted to eat so I did the only logical thing. I called Wally. 

"Hey dude" he answered almost immediately.   
"Hey! I have a serious problem"  
"What is it?" Wally asked, sounding a bit alarmed.  
"I don't know if I should get Taco Bell, Burger King, or McDonald's"  
There was complete silence on the other end.   
"You still there?" I asked.   
Wally burst out laughing.  
"Oh my god! It's just fast food. You made it sound like someone was dying"   
"Well, technically I'm slowly dying if I don't get anything to eat because I'll starve to death" I argued.   
"Fine, you little drama queen. I'm thinking you should be fancy" Wally said.  
"How does one be 'fancy' eating fast food?" I asked.   
"Wendy's"   
"Wendy's it is then. Thanks for the advice"   
"No hay problema! Always happy to help with a food crisis," there was a pause, "well, see you tomorrow then" Wally said.   
"Yeah. See you tomorrow" I replied, remembering the reason I was so restless in the first place.

As I made my way inside the restaurant and stood in line the boy in front of me got his card declined. They tried again and it got declined a second time. Then a third.   
"Come on, kid. There's a line" the cashier said.  
The boy looked like he was on the verge of tears and was about to leave.

"I'll pay for him. And add a Barbecue Cheeseburger" I said.   
The boy was staring at me like I was his hero. 

I got the food and sat down at a table by the window.   
"Come on, kid. Let's eat"  
The boy seemed a bit cautious at first, it'd be weird if he wasn't, until I put the food in front of him. Then he started devouring his burger like he hadn't eaten in a week. 

"So, kid. What's your name?" I asked.  
"You first" the boy replied, mouth full of food. Disgusting.   
"I'm Robin"  
I'd decided to go with the Robin thing. I actually kinda liked that name.   
"Well, nice to meet you, Robin. I'm Jason. And just for your information, I'm not a kid. I'm eleven" the boy said.   
"Nice to meet you too, Jason. Though since I'm fourteen you are definitely still a kid"  
Jason huffed and glared at me. 

We had soon eaten our food. Jason looked like he was in heaven.   
"When was the last time you ate? Not counting right now of course" I asked.   
Jason had been acting a bit weird this whole time, but he suddenly looked extremely uncomfortable. 

"I, um, well, might've been like three days ago" he admitted.  
"Don't your parents feed you?" I asked.   
"Not really. I have no idea where mom is, dad is a fucking criminal, and Catherine, my stepmom, is a drug addict. Feeding me has never been their priority"

Dam, he had a shitty life. I felt really bad for him. I couldn't imagine what it must be like.   
I got an idea.

"Do you have a phone?" I asked.   
Jason nodded.   
"Good. I want to give you my number, so in case you ever need help, you can call me. It doesn't matter if you just need company, or if you need food. Anything really. I'm kind of loaded"   
I was a bit surprised with myself, to be honest. I usually wasn't all about that 'doing the right thing' kind of stuff, but apparently, Jason was an exception.

~~~

Jason and I parted ways soon after. He'd promised to call if he needed me, and in return, he'd made me promise not to tell anyone about his living conditions. That worked for me. 

On my way to the subway station, the sky had darkened considerably, not that it was ever anything but dark, and the air felt heavy. Great. It was going to rain and shit. I'd better get home. Maybe Wally wanted to play something. 

The subway ride was exactly as you would expect. Uneventful. A baby was crying somewhere on the train. The crying stopped eventually. There was some drunk guy a few seats away, talking loudly to the person next to him, a middle-aged man who looked extremely uncomfortable. Just the usual. 

It was finally my stop and I rushed out. While I didn't hate taking the subway I very much preferred taking the bus.  
When I got out into the open it had started raining. It wasn't too bad. Just bad enough to make all my clothes damp for the rest of the day. 

I ran the last bit when the rain got worse, and by the time I reached the front door, I might as well had taken a shower. 

"Welcome home Re-IS THAT YOUR WET SHOES ON MY CLEAN CARPET"  
Mom was livid. I guess she had the right to be. She'd cleaned the house a few days ago and the carpet alone had taken almost an hour. Of course, I had completely forgotten about that.   
"Sorry, mom" I yelled while running to my room.   
I could deal with her wrath later.


	8. 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren meets Wally & friends and has a nice little chat

If yesterday had been bad, today was even worse. I couldn't sleep all night, and when morning finally came I had more energy than a squirrel on caffeine. I was currently running around in the kitchen, helping mom with whatever I could.   
"What's got you so excited today, Ren?" mom asked.   
I stopped running around for a second to answer her.  
"I'm meeting up with a friend today when he gets out of school"   
"Oh, that's wonderful! My baby is making friends!"   
Oh god. I shouldn't have told her. 

She asked a lot of questions about this 'mystery friend I'd never told her about'. It almost felt like an interrogation with the number of questions she came up with. Eventually, I got away by promising I'll tell her everything at dinner. Not looking forward to that.

We'd made omelettes for breakfast and I had, against mom's advice, brewed some coffee for me.   
"Do you know when you get back?" mom asked.   
"Not really. It really depends on what we're doing. It probably won't be too late though since they have school tomorrow" I replied.   
"It's okay. Just call if you think you'll miss dinner"  
"Will do" I replied. 

~~~

I had gone into town early. It was only one in the afternoon, but I had decided to get some Wendy's again since i still had money from yesterday. 

The restaurant was pretty empty, seeing as most people were in school or at work, so there wasn't a line. 

I ordered 'to-go' and when I got my food I started heading to a nearby park. 

The park was one of the livelier places in Gotham, and at least half the benches were occupied. I did find one near a crappy skatepark, where a few people were enjoying the unusually nice weather. 

I made myself comfortable and started munching on my burger. I wasn't in any hurry since I wasn't meeting up with Wally until three. I watched the skaters do tricks and shit for a while when I suddenly saw a familiar face amongst the skaters.

"Jason!" I called.   
A few people looked over towards me, including Jason, and I waved.  
Jason said something to the others and came over to me.   
"Hi, Robin!" he greeted, raising his hand for a fist bump.   
I, of course, didn't leave him hanging. 

"Fancy seeing you here," I said and offered Jason some fries.  
"So, have you eaten today?" I asked.   
Jason shook his head.   
"You're eating all the fries then," decided, leaving no room for arguments.   
Jason hesitantly took the fries and started eating. 

"You're pretty good at skating, by the way," I said to change the topic.   
Jason looked up from his fries.  
"Thanks! I've been doing it for almost two years now" 

There was then silence while Jason ate his fries. Once he finished them he yeeted the container into a trashcan and wiped his hands on his jeans.   
"Wanna try?" he asked, pointing at his skateboard.  
"Yeah, sure"   
I quickly finished my burger and we walked back to the skatepark. 

The people Jason were talking to before were staring me down. It was actually a bit unnerving.  
"Guys, this is Robin. He's cool, so don't kill him" Jason introduced me. When the others didn't move Jason shooed them away with his hand and they, a bit hesitantly went back to whatever they were doing. 

"Have you ever skated before?" Jason asked.  
I shook my head.   
"But I have pretty good balance if that helps"  
"Yeah, that's good," Jason said. 

You'd think that years of gymnastics and dangerous stunts would make stepping on a skateboard seem like nothing, but honestly, I was feeling nervous when I carefully pushed myself forward. The board shifted, and I almost ran right into Jason. Thankfully, I realized to lean back a bit and turned away last second. 

It didn't take long for me to get the hang of it and after about an hour I managed to get up and down a ramp without dying. Jason was impressed, to say the least. He told me it had taken him days to get to my level. 

We basically spent the next hour taking turns and trying tricks. I fucked up on most of them, but Jason wasn't a dick about it, which was nice. 

Soon it was time for me to meet Wally.

"I gotta go now, but this was awesome," I said.   
"Well, I could give you a call sometime if you wanna do this again" Jason suggested.  
"Yeah, dude! Whenever" 

~~~

It was two minutes after three in the afternoon, and I was leaning on the gate of Gotham Academy. My bright pink hoodie stood out like a sore thumb in the sea of well-dressed students in their boring black uniforms. Wally wasn't here yet. 

Someone broke free from the crowd and came and stood next to me. I glanced over, and lo and behold it was Artemis. She was tapping away on her phone, probably texting. She looked annoyed. A few seconds later she let out a frustrated sigh and pocketed her phone. She must've felt me staring because now she was suddenly staring right back. I decided to use the ultimate power move and just continued staring, making it extremely awkward for both of us. 

After almost a whole minute Artemis finally broke and waved a hand in front of my face.  
"What are you staring at, dipshit" she growled.   
"You. Obviously" I replied.   
She flipped me off. And me being me, I blew her a kiss.   
She huffed and rolled her eyes.

"What're you doing here, anyway. I know you don't go here" Artemis demanded.   
"I'm just waiting for my friend" I replied truthfully. 

There was a tension between us growing more and more uncomfortable until I finally saw a familiar redhead, along with the rest of the team. I had to pretend I didn't know what he looked like though since I technically hadn't met him face to face yet. Artemis' face lit up though, and she waved. Wally waved back, but when he came up to us he completely forgot Artemis. He must've remembered I told him I would wear a pink hoodie. 

"Robin?" he questioned.   
"Sup, dude," I said.   
Then I was crushed in a hug.   
"Oh my god! It's so awesome to actually meet you" Wally squealed.   
Yes. He actually squealed.   
"I know, right! It's so weird to talk without a phone"

"Did we miss something?" a confused voice asked.   
Well shit. I'd forgotten the rest of the team.   
Wally let go of me and turned to the team.   
"Guys, this is Robin. We met a couple of weeks ago online. And Robin, these are my friends Kaldur, Conner, Megan, and Artemis" Wally introduced us.   
Artemis' jaw dropped.  
"That little shit is the friend you've been talking about?" she exclaimed loudly, turning a few heads.   
"Oh, name-calling. So mature" I retorted. 

"Wally, your friend is weird" Artemis insisted.   
Wally looked slightly offended.   
"Maybe I know him a bit better than you do. And for your information, you're really easily irritated, so Robin probably didn't even do anything that bad".  
Artemis just huffed and turned her back on us. She seemed to be a fucking delight to be around. 

"Thanks for defending me" I thanked Wally.   
"No problem. Artemis can be a real pain in the ass sometimes"

~~~

It had been a bit awkward at first, seeing as the team didn't know me, so I had mainly talked to Wally.

After about an hour of just chilling in the park, Megan suggested we go to a small cafe nearby where she apparently knew the owner. 

When we got there a woman in her late 20's greeted Megan with a hug. The woman introduced herself as Ellen and sat us at a round table in the back of the cafe. I ended up between Wally and Conner.   
Ellen soon came back with milkshakes and insisted they were on the house.

"So," Artemis said, " let's talk about you, Robin" 

Well shit.


	9. 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren hangs put With the team, has a nightmare, and remembers Tony Zucco

"You're gonna have to be a little more specific than that, Artemis," I said.   
"Okay then. How about your age" Artemis replied.   
Starting off simple, I see.  
"Easy. I'm fourteen"  
"Where do you live"   
"Kind of personal," I said "but I live here in Gotham. Not in centrum though"   
"Where do you go to school," Kaldur asked.  
"I'm taking online classes" I lied. 

This continued on for some time. The team was constantly asking questions, and I could tell Wally was a bit embarrassed by them. I barely even got to ask them anything, and I didn't get to talk to Wally as much as I would've liked. 

Soon dinnertime was approaching, and I was getting hungry.

"Hey, guys, this has been fun, but I've got to go now" I announced.   
Wally pouted.   
"Do you have to?" he whined.   
"Yes, Wally. I have to go" I laughed.   
"Well, I can't really stop you. But we have to meet up again, right?" Wally said.   
"Yeah. Of course. And we can still text, or video chat, or something" I assured him.   
Then I was crushed in a hug.   
"Bye," Wally mumbled.   
I awkwardly patted his back.  
"Yeah, bye. See you sometime" 

Then I left. 

~~~

It was about eight a clock when I got home. Mom and dad were cuddling on the couch, watching a movie. 

"I'm home" I called.  
"Great timing, sweety! I was just about to order pizza. What do you want?" mom asked.   
"Just whatever has pineapple and tuna on it" I replied. (pineapple on pizza is life Fight Me) 

I took a quick shower before joining my parents on the couch. The pizza hadn't arrived yet.   
"What're you watching?" I asked.   
"Mary Poppins. The one with Lin-Manuel Miranda" mom replied.   
Sweet! Anything with Lin in it is awesome. 

A few minutes later the pizza arrived. Mom went to open the door and soon came back with three pizzas.

Our movie night accidentally turned into a movie marathon. Once Mary Poppins ended I really wanted to see 'Into the Spider-verse', which was fantastic by the way. And after that mom insisted we watched 'IT'. 

So, yeah. We ended the night with a horror movie.

I went to bed after the movie had ended, as a could barely keep my eyes open. I was asleep the moment my head touched my pillow. 

~~~

My footsteps echoed in the dark hallway. Small yellowish lights were evenly placed on the ceiling. The hallway seemed to go on forever, both ends just slowly fading into pitch black. 

I couldn't hear a single noise aside from my footsteps. 

I kept on walking, but nothing seemed to change. The hallway still looked like a fucking black hole. 

For some reason. I felt the urge to reach out and touch one of the lights. It burned.

Suddenly I was falling. The hallway was nowhere to be seen. I was just falling through nothing. 

I heard a quiet buzzing in the back of my head. The buzzing got louder and louder. It got so loud that I felt like my head was about to explode.   
I screamed. 

Then I hit the ground.   
The air left my lungs at the impact. I tried to get back the much-needed oxygen but ended up in a coughing fit.  
In a slight panic, I tried to sit up, but found, to my horror, that I was unable to move. I couldn't even turn my head.   
I just laid there, nearly hyperventilating. 

Suddenly three shadows were towering over me. I couldn't see who they were. 

"It was your fault" they spoke.

What the hell?   
What the fuck were they talking about? 

"We would still be alive if you weren't such a fuckup" 

I tried to speak, but nothing came out. 

"Te urâm" 

I shot up from my bed in cold sweat. What the hell was that dream? I'd had nightmares before but not like this. Who the hell were those people? They couldn't have been any of my usual kills, because you don't have nightmares about things you don't feel bad about. So it must've been someone I cared about.   
And then there was the Romanian thing. I hadn't met anyone who spoke Romanian since.......FUCK!   
I was having dreams about my biological family again, weren't I? I thought they stopped two years ago, but apparently not. 

I really hoped the nightmares wouldn't become frequent again, because now I didn't have the same solution as last time.   
I'd suffered from nightmares about the fall almost every night when mom and dad first took me in. When I finally told them about it they hurried to finish my training. When they thought I was ready dad asked me if I wanted to track down the one who killed them.  
I didn't hesitate.

It didn't even take a month before I had Tony Zucco kneeling on the floor in his own apartment. I remembered it clearly. I mean, who wouldn't remember their first kill?

Zucco was already half dead after I'd beaten the shit out of him. I still had my mask on, so he didn't even know who I was. My gun was pointed at his forehead. A clean shot. 

"Why? Who are you?" he wimpered. 

I stayed silent.   
I just reached for my mask and took it off, staring right into Zucco's eyes. 

Zucco gasped in surprise. He then begged for mercy, telling me he knew I was too good to kill someone. 

I cut him off mid-sentence.

"Have a nice trip down" 

A gunshot echoed through the apartment and a look of pure shock was forever etched into Zucco's face as his body fell back and hit the floor, a nice little stream of blood already flowing from his forehead.

After that, I searched his entire apartment for anything if value and stole it all. 

But of course, that solution wouldn't work now, seeing as Zucco was already dead and I, sadly, couldn't kill him again.

I'd have to talk to dad about it. But that was for later. I looked over at the clock. 6:13 am. Huh. Might as well get up now and get something to eat. Maybe any of my internet "friends" were awake.


	10. 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically, Ren helps Selina from a museum

Mom later found me sprawled out on the couch in the living room, asleep. According to her, I was snoring. I didn't believe her. 

Anyway, when breakfast was ready she woke me up. I was a bit hungry even though I'd gotten a snack an hour ago, and the smell of bacon made my mouth water. 

I slowly made my way into the kitchen and slouched down on a chair. Mom put a plate of bacon and egg in front of me, along with a cup of coffee. Milk, no sugar, the perfect way to drink coffee. 

"How did you sleep, honey," mom asked.   
I just groaned. Forming a complete sentence seemed like a much too difficult task for me. 

I finished my breakfast and downed my coffee, craving some caffeine. I felt less tired almost immediately. I even felt like going outside and committing some crime.

"Mom, do you think dad has any missions for me?" I asked. 

Mom shrugged.   
"You'll have to ask him. But even if you don't get a mission you can still just go out and pickpocket people" she replied. 

Conveniently enough dad entered the kitchen that exact moment. 

"Morning, Harley, Ren" he greeted.

"Morning" mom and I replied.

"Dad, do you have a mission for me? I really feel like doing something" I asked. 

Dad thought for a moment before his face lit up.

"I know exactly what you can do! I promised Selina some help today and I'm sure she would love it if you showed up" dad suggested. 

"You got it" I replied, already running to my room to get my stuff.

~~~

Selina was a hard woman to find. Even with her location it still took longer than I liked to admit finding her. 

She was laying on her stomach on the edge of a roof, one leg dangerously hanging out over the busy street below. A small backpack laid next to her. 

"Hi, Selina" I greeted her. 

Selina jumped up and looked around in confusion before her eyes locked on me. 

"Would you look at that! My little kitten has come to help me" she squealed. 

Ugh. Why does she insist on calling me kitten? It's embarrassing. On the other hand, it wasn't my worst nickname by far.

"So what are we doing today then?" I asked. 

Selina grinned.   
"There's a beautiful bracelet in the Gotham Museum that I simply must have. It's supposedly the sixth most valuable bracelet in the world" she explained. 

I had expected nothing else from her. She had an odd obsession for jewelry.

~~~

Selina and I were stood on the roof of the museum. We had a foolproof plan to get in and out before the police could get there. Though it wouldn't be easy, seeing as the bracelet was only on display during opening hours.

Our way in would be the large glass portion of the ceiling. Not my preferred entrance, but the only fire exit was through the basement where we would most definitely be seen and the main entrance was out of the question. So the roof had to do.

Whoever designed the building had thought it to be a good idea to make it possible to open the individual windows in the ceiling from the inside, which made our job incredibly easy. 

I simply stuck my knife in the small slit between the window itself and the frame and unhinged the lock, successfully opening the window. 

I then made sure my grappling hook was secure before lowering myself into the building.

Large metal bars were evenly placed with the purpose of supporting the heavy duty lights in the room. Much to my delight one of the bars led directly to a vent. 

So without any of the visitors below noticing, I snuck up to the vent, used my knife to unscrew it and climbed inside. 

"But what about the cameras???" you ask.

Why the fuck would they have cameras pointing at the roof?

Anyway. I crawled through the vent, following a map on my hologlove, until I reached the "control room" where the guards sat with their coffees, keeping an eye on the security feed on their screens. 

In one swift motion, I kicked open the vent and landed on the floor. I didn't give the guards my time to react before I grabbed the closest thing I could find and hit one of them over the head, simultaneously kicking the other in the face. 

They fell to the ground. Unconscious. 

I unplugged a few cables and used them to tie up the guards. I then looked around for some sort of electricity box, which, according to my map, should be there.

I found the box and opened it. I then took one of the guards' coffees and threw it at the box. It sparked angrily and made some mildly concerning voices before dying completely.

Just then the lights in the room went out, along with hopefully every other light in the building. Just like we planned. 

I sent Selina a text, giving her the clear to go in. 

Now the only thing I had to do was get out the same way I came in. 

That was easier said than done. 

While Selina had night vision goggles I did not. My hologlove had a flashlight but I had a hard time keeping my arm steady enough for the flashlight to actually be useful. 

By the time I got out of the vent, I saw Selina on the roof. She had done it. Now I just had to get to my grappling hook, which was still exactly where I left it.

A few of the visitors below noticed me and pointed at me, yelling for guards to get me. It didn't concern me. I already had my hand tightly wrapped around the handle of the grappling hook. I pressed the button and was hoisted up to the roof, where Selina gave me a high five. 

~~~

"That went extremely well" I commented, once we were safe in Selina's apartment.

"Thanks to you, kitten. You were awesome" Selina said, ruffling my hair. 

"Well, you did do the actual stealing, so I would say the effort was 50/50" I insisted. 

Selina shrugged and went into the kitchen. She opened the fridge and suddenly a coke bottle was hurled at me. I caught it last second and shot Selina a glare. She just laughed and escaped to the living room, a beer in hand. 

I followed her to the couch and made myself comfortable. 

"You have time to watch a movie before you have to go home, right?" Selina asked. 

So that's what we did.


	11. 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poor Ren has another nightmare

It was almost one in the morning when I finally got home. After the movie, Selina had gotten a bit too excited and we ended up having a competition in who could chug a coke the fastest.

I had won but she insisted I somehow cheated so she demanded another round. Then another. And another. 

In the end, we did twelve rounds before she finally admitted defeat.

~~~

The house was quiet when I closed the door behind me. Mom and dad had obviously already gone to sleep.

I went to the kitchen to find something to eat since I had missed dinner and found a sticky note on top of a container. It read: I saved some food for you hope you had fun with Selina <3 

~~~

I had a YouTube video playing on my phone as I ate. Something about ballet shoes. It had been aggressively recommended for me for the past four days. Every time I'd opened the app it was there, so I just gave in and watched it. 

Somehow, despite the amount of caffeine I'd ingested today, I was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to go to sleep. 

When I finished my food I couldn't even bother to clean up. I just went to my room and crashed onto my bed, falling asleep almost right away. 

~~~

The first thing I noticed was the weight of a cape on my back. Weird. I looked down at my clothes. It was my old costume. The one that looked like a traffic light. 

I shrugged and left that alone. If I had my costume on then so be it. It wasn't really an issue.

I turned my attention to where I was instead. 

I didn't recognize my surroundings. It seemed to be some sort of tent, but everything was stretched and distorted, and that, combined with the bright red and yellow colour scheme of the tent, made me dizzy and slightly uneasy.

There was a steady stream of people walking past me, but they were deformed. Where their faces should've been it was just a blurry mess, almost as if someone had used the smudge tool in Photoshop. 

A shiver ran through my body. Faceless beings were apparently where I drew the line for what's too weird. 

I tried to ignore them and focused on the rest of my surroundings.

I could hear voices somewhere close by, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. 

Suddenly someone bumped into me from behind. I lost my balance and fell to the ground face first.

When I got back up the tent walls were gone. As we're the people. Instead, there was a gray trailer in the middle of an empty field. I could hear voices from inside. They sounded angry. 

I walked closer, wanting to hear what they were talking-screaming-about. 

As I came closer the voices changed, now identifiable. While Haly's voice gave me a small comfort Zucco's voice made my stomach twist.

I wanted to stop right there and leave, but my body moved of its own accord.

Step by step I moved forward until I reached the door to the trailer. It wasn't closed all the way so all I had to do was open it a few inches more to be able to see inside. 

Zucco was towering over Haly, trying to intimidate him, but it wasn't working. Bless that man. He could probably be faced with the batglare and still stand his ground. 

"I do not want to hear another word about this. I've told you no! Now leave me alone or I'll call the police" Haly shouted. 

It was obviously not the first time Haly had asked Zucco to leave. 

Zucco grabbed a fistful of Haly's jacket and pulled him closer (no not like that! Get your mind out of the gutter).  
"If you know what's good for you you will reconsider my offer. After all, the safety of your performers should be your top priority" Zucco growled. 

Haly slapped away Zucco's hand.  
"Get out!" 

Zucco looked like he wanted to punch Haly, but he just smoothened out his jacket and turned around to leave. 

Then he saw me.

I felt as if my soul had left my body the moment his eyes locked onto mine. 

I suddenly realized that it was just us two in the trailer. Haly had disappeared into nothing.

"How nice of you to join me, Richard," Zucco said smugly. 

My real name coming out of his mouth felt wrong, almost violating. 

As Zucco came closer and closer I was frozen to the ground, unable to move. Zucco was barely a foot away when my knees buckled beneath me and I crumbled to the ground. Well, I would've if not for the hand that was suddenly wrapped around my throat, holding up my entire weight. 

"I think it's time I finished what I started. The last Flying Grayson will at last fall" 

As the pressure on my throat increased I was hit with ineffable panic and terror. I clawed on Zucco's hand, but his grip only seemed to tighten. 

"Just accept your fate, boy. You can't possibly think you will win this" Zucco mocked. 

I was barely conscious by now, and all I could respond with was a weak hissing sound. Pathetic, I know. 

A snap echoed through the whole area and it went dark.

~~~

I woke up in cold sweat and tears streaming down my face. My blanket was tightly wrapped around me and my pillows had somehow ended up on the floor. 

I couldn't stop crying. I wiped away the tears only for them to be replaced a few seconds later. I had no idea what to do. 

I couldn't go back to sleep in fear of the nightmare continuing, but staying awake in my current state wasn't any better. 

In my mental rambling, I had subconsciously grabbed my phone, and now I realized with horror that I was calling Wally. Why? Why was he the first person my mind thought could help? 

I was just about to hit the red button when he answered. 

"H-hi, Robin. You know, it's-yawn-4am right now" he said.

"I'm so sorry for waking you up. I'll just go now" I tried to say between sobs. 

Wally's mood immediately changed. 

"Oh god, what's happened?" he asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

"D-don't worry about it. It's just...its just a stupid nightmare" 

Wally obviously didn't believe that for even one second. 

"Robin, you're calling me at four in the morning and you're literally crying. I can't not worry" 

I broke. I told him everything, of course leaving out the stuff that could lead to my real identity, such as Haly's and Zucco's names. 

While I told Wally about my nightmare I didn't even notice when I started to calm down. I only noticed when I finally said goodbye to Wally almost an hour later and I wasn't full-on sobbing anymore. 

Wally, huh. Never imagined he'd be the one to help me with my nightmares.  
I think I'm really glad it's him though.


	12. 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren and Wally have a nice chat and Ren annoys the Penguin

Today I surprised mom and dad by showing up for breakfast at 7:32 in the morning. Last time I was up this early Cristine was still doing nail art. 

"You're up early, sweety" mom commented. 

"Yeah, I didn't really sleep well" I admitted. 

Dad looked up from his omelette.  
" It's not those pesky nightmares again, is it?" 

"Umm, well, maybeee?"   
Whatever. I wasn't getting out of this one. 

"Do you think it'll be a problem, or was it a one-time thing?" dad asked.

"Well, I did have one the night before too," I told him. 

"I'll figure something out, kid. Don't worry. Were gonna get rid of those nightmares" dad assured me. 

"Thanks" I mumbled. 

~~~

After breakfast, I went back to my room and checked my phone. I had one missed call from Wally and a text.

Wally 8:02 am   
Facetime when u get this?

I had a feeling this was about the nightmare thing.  
Oh well, better to get this over with than to have to deal with it later. 

Wally picked up almost instantly. 

His freckled face popped up on my screen.  
"Good morning, Robin!" he greeted, sounding as cheerful as ever.

"Morning, Wally. What's up?" I sounded less cheerful and more dead, the black circles under my eyes matching my voice. 

Wally sighed and his smile fell into a frown.  
"I'm sure you already figured it out, but I wanted to talk about earlier. I know you said you were fine but honestly, I've been worrying all day"  
he said.

I couldn't exactly blame him. It's not really normal for anyone to call their friend in the middle of the night, crying about some stupid nightmare. 

"Wally, I know I worried you, but I'm okay. I was just a bit shaken. To be honest, you helped me calm down pretty fast though. It was really nice to talk to you about the nightmare" I said, hoping to ease his mind if only a little. 

I got the feeling Wally would've wanted to talk about it more, but to my relief, he changed the subject.

"I'll believe you, for now. But if that happens again I'm gonna be really worried. Anyway. I gotta show you something, " Wally reached for something out of frame, almost falling off the chair he was sitting in doing so. 

I couldn't help but to chuckle a bit. 

When Wally came back into frame he was holding something. 

"My uncle came by yesterday and gave me this, " he held up the object, which I realized was a broken batarang on a chain.

"Dude! That's sick!" I exclaimed.

Wally hung the chain around his neck. 

"I know, right! I can't believe he found a real one" Wally said.

His excitement was honestly adorable.  
"I'm gonna have to see that in person next time we meet," I told him. 

Wally was about to say something when the door behind him slid open, revealing Conner. 

"Hey, Wally. Batm-" Conner was interrupted by a pillow to the face.

"Not now, Con! I'm talking to Robin" Wally hissed. 

Damn. Wouldn't it have been funny if Conner had accidentally outed them both?

Conner looked past Wally and noticed me. 

"Hi, Robin. How are you doing?" Conner asked.

He and I had gotten along surprisingly well in the cafe. Neither had felt like sharing anything personal, and I felt for the guy. I mean, he was technically barely a year old and was already facing the harsh reality. He was alone in his struggles, much like myself. Sure, mom and dad tried to be there for me, but having your entire family murdered does give you an unwanted reality check. 

Anyway, the point is that Conner and I got along and understood each other. 

"Hi, Conner! I'm pretty good. You?" I replied.

Conner shrugged, but the small smile on his lips told me he was in a good mood, so not too bad.

"Sorry to cut it short, Robin, but Wally and I really need to go," Conner said apologetically, sending Wally a glare.

Wally sighed and roller his eyes.  
"Ugh! Fine! Sorry, Rob. Gotta go. Talk to you later" 

Probably another mission, seeing as Conner had mentioned Batman.

"Yeah. Later" 

And we hang up.

So, the team would probably be out for a while. Might as well go outside and fuck shit up. 

~~~

I'd decided to go and annoy the Penguin since he wasn't really on dad's "friend-list". Besides, he was incredibly easy to annoy. 

I kicked open the doors to the Iceberg Lounge, startling a few people inside.   
"Yo what the Fuck is up bitches!" I yelled, getting everyone's attention. 

Three guards came my way. They were all long-time criminals, wanted for multiple murders. One of them stood out, however. According to the GCPD files he had child abuse added to his list of charges. I made a mental note to kill him later. 

I greeted the guards with a nod.  
"Heya fellas! Is your boss busy?" I asked. 

The guards obviously didn't know who I was, as they were about to attack me. 

I would've killed them on the spot, if not for a familiar voice interrupting our little dispute.

"Stand down! He's an ally" the Penguin commanded through gritted teeth. 

The guards shrugged and went back to their posts. Wise choice. 

I sauntered up to the Penguin and threw an arm around his shoulder.  
"Penguin! My man! Just who I wanted to see. How's life been?" 

I knew the Penguin absolutely hated me. The only reason he wasn't constantly trying to kill me was that he was afraid of what dad would do to him if I got so much as a scratch. So he just had to put up with me.

"What are you doing here, Renegade?" Penguin hissed.

That was another thing. He always insisted on calling me by my full name. Well, not name, technically alias.

"Don't worry. It's not business. I just want to hang out with the man himself" I replied, making finger guns at him.

"Renegade, you're about as welcome here as the Bat" the Penguin sighed. 

I, of course, knew this. Just another reason why I enjoyed coming here so much. Even though most people here wanted to kill me I was, because of dad, essentially untouchable.

Sometimes some stupid fucker would try to kill me anyway. It always ended with me walking out, leaving behind a messy work of art for the cleaning staff to take care of. 

"Not you, nor any of your henchmen could ever hope to even slightly injure me, so your 'threats'" I did a quotation sign, "are about as effective as a toddler with a stuffed animal," I said. 

The Penguin growled and rudely shoved me off of him.

"Your insolence will get you killed one day, boy" 

I huffed.  
"You're no fun!" 

"Good! Because that is my intention. I don't care for amusing a mere child" the Penguin spat.

I threw my hands up.  
"Fine! Be boring! I'm gonna get a drink" 

I walked up to the bar and pushed past the bartender, who was smart enough to not bother me. 

None of the bottles really looked familiar, which makes sense since I'm very much still underage. 

I ended up just grabbing a random one from the highest shelf I could reach and stomped off to the nearest table. 

I used my knife to open the bottle and took a large sip. It was quite strong, but nothing I couldn't handle.

The Penguin was glaring at me from across the room. 

I gave him the finger. 

I was about to take another sip when the front doors suddenly slammed open and four bloodied up guys stumbled inside. 

"The Bat is coming!" one of them screamed before falling unconscious. The others followed suit, crashing to the floor. 

The Iceberg Lounge was in full chaos. Everyone scrambled to get their guns ready, and the unfortunate unarmed people we're running towards the nearest back exits. 

The chaos gave me the perfect opportunity to sneak away. There was a large chandelier hanging from the ceiling that looked safe enough, so I quickly found the wire connected to it and climbed up. 

No sooner had I made myself comfortable in the chandelier before a dark figure crashed through one of the windows. Batman.

He landed on the floor and quickly scouted his surroundings. 

There was a moment of silence before all hell broke loose. 

Bullets were flying from every direction, none hitting their intended target. Others were getting hit though because Batman was constantly moving out of the way, putting random henchmen in the crossfire. Apparently, his no-killing rule didn't apply to indirectly causing death. 

I watched Batman move around the room. It was mesmerizing. You'd think the cape and the body armour would slow him down, but no. He was taking down the henchmen as if they were nothing. 

I had to admire his skills. I couldn't clear a room this fast without killing them all. 

Suddenly only seven out of the at least thirty were standing. They looked at each other, a silent agreement, and ran towards the nearest exit as fast as they could. 

Batman didn't follow them. He'd noticed the Penguin, who was frantically searching for a way to escape now that his defence had been taken out. 

Batman approached the Penguin, keeping his hand close to the utility belt where he probably had his batarangs. 

"You're going back to Arkham, Oswald. It'll be easier for both of us if you surrender" Batman growled. 

The Penguin was looking around, searching for anything that could help him. Then he saw me, and an evil grin spread across his face. 

"Why bother with me when you could have the Joker's son," he said. 

Fuck! I was going to fucking murder him for this. 

"What are you talking about?" Batman demanded. 

The Penguin pointed right at me.


	13. 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Idk just Ren being Ren

I almost fell off the chandelier when Batman spun around, his white "eyes" sending a glare like no other. 

I froze. 

Sure, I'd seen him on the news, and sometimes from a distance while hiding in safety, but this was completely different. 

I was trapped on top of a fucking chandelier hanging from the fucking ceiling. There was literally no escape. 

All he had to do was cut one little wire and the whole chandelier would come crashing down, me with it. 

I decided I did not want to wait for that to happen.

I took ahold of the wire and slid down, thankful for my thick gloves. Rope burns are Not fun. 

I landed harshly on the floor.

Batman had kept his eyes on me the whole time and didn't notice when the Penguin turned around to leave, but I did. 

I whipped out my gun and before Batman could even react I shot the Penguin in the leg, making him fall to the floor with a surprised shout. 

Did he really think he could throw me under the bus without consequences? 

Batman looked confused for a second before he seemed to realize what had just happened. 

"Why did you do that?" he asked. 

"Can't really let him get away now, can we? Seeing as he tried to use me as a distraction" I replied.

Batman was studying me, trying to figure out every single thing about me. I could feel his glare staring into my soul. And I let him, figuring the longer he took to stare at me, the more time I had to plan an escape that hopefully wouldn't involve going hand to hand with the Dark Knight himself. So far my options didn't really look too good. 

Batman's stance suddenly became more defensive.  
"You were the one at Bruce Wayne's party" he stated. 

Shit! He got me there.

"Yup! That's me! Thanks for sending the mini-league, by the way. Made by job one hell of a lot easier than if you'd showed up" I said. 

I needed to stay calm. On the inside, I was terrified. I wanted nothing more than to curl up in a corner and cry. If Batman decided to attack there would be nothing I could do. He was obviously better at fighting than me. So yeah, I was scared, but I couldn't show any weakness.

"Who are you" Batman growled.

He sounded pretty angry. I took a cautious step back. 

"Like the traitor over there said, " I pointed to the Penguin, " I'm the Joker's son, though you can call me Renegade, Ren for short" 

I'd decided it didn't really matter if I told Batman the truth. After all, the point of me crashing the party was to make myself known. 

The Penguin suddenly let out a pained scream. He'd tried to walk on his injured leg. It had been unsuccessful. 

Batman turned around, his back facing me. 

This was my chance. Maybe my only chance. I made a run for the door.

I literally had my hand on the doorknob when suddenly something wrapped around my legs, yanking them backwards, making me fall face first on the floor. 

I didn't have time to catch myself so my face took the full impact. 

Something wasn't right. It should hurt, right? And why was everything blurry? Oh shit! I was about to pass out, wasn't I? Fuck! 

Everything went dark. 

~~~

I woke up to a roaring car engine. I was leaning against something, but I didn't dare to open my eyes to look. Though the car engine and the fact that I seemed to be moving led me to the conclusion that I was in a car. 

I felt something around my wrists. Probably handcuffs. 

That quickly woke me from my slightly dazed state, and I started to realize the severity of the situation. 

I was sitting in a random, moving car, restrained, and the person driving the car was most likely Batman, because cops would stay under the speed limit. 

An unfamiliar voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Master, how was your night?" 

A gruff voice confirmed my suspicion.  
"Well, Oswald is going back to Arkham, and I've got the Joker's unconscious son with me in the car" 

"Shall I prepare a room here or are you taking him elsewhere?" the other asked, sounding not at all surprised. 

"I don't know what he's capable of, so the cave is probably the safest option. We'll be there in about ten minutes. Bye, Alfred" 

Alfred? Who was that? He'd called Batman 'master'. That might be a clue. 

You'd think I knew Batman's identity, considering I've hacked the bat cave multiple times, but I never found anything, so to now have a name associated with Batman was huge. 

Though now was not the time to celebrate my new findings, because I had less than ten minutes to get out of here. 

I opened my eyes slightly, just enough to get a glimpse of where I was. 

I was very thankful when I recognized the street we were on, and a plan immediately started to form. It was risky, and it would depend on Batman going over the not-too-high bridge, but if that part worked out all I had to do was open the car door right when we were on the bridge, and jump out. Then I would have to jump into the water and swim under the bridge so Batman wouldn't find me. And I'd had to do all that with my hands cuffed. Great. 

So far my plan seemed to be working, as the bridge was approaching. 

As soon as we got onto the bridge I pushed the car door open with all my might and jumped out. 

I had managed to prepare for the fall, so when I hit the ground I used my arms to soften the impact.

The Batmobile skidded to a halt about fifteen yards away. I didn't have much time. 

I grabbed the railing of the bridge for support and managed to stand up. 

The car door opened, and Batman was running toward me. I had to do it now.

I heaved myself over the railing and let go, falling down toward the water. I caught a glimpse of Batman, leaning over the railing with his arm reached out. That had been close. 

Then I hit the water. I wasn't an idiot, so I'd dived headfirst. The cold water was a bit of a shot to my body, but with the amount of adrenaline I had in my system at that moment, I barely felt a thing. 

I knew I couldn't resurface yet. Batman would see me and we didn't want that. So I just blindly swam in a direction I thought was the right one. 

Soon I had to breathe, so I swam up, hoping to be out of sight. When I broke through the surface I gasped for air. A bit of the gross water had gotten in my mouth. Disgusting.

I looked around, and noticed, to my relief, that I had swum the right way and was completely hidden by the bridge. 

It had to be my lucky day because the bridge had a missing brick right above the water surface that I could hold onto so I wouldn't drown, because I couldn't risk leaving before I was completely sure Batman was gone.

Luckily I didn't have to wait too long. Batman probably wasn't prepared to dive after some kid. Maybe fifteen minutes later I heard the roar of the batmobile driving away. 

Now I had to move. He might come back. 

By now I was starting to get really cold, so the short swim to dry land was welcome. It was a bit frustrating though to not be able to use my hands. I kind of just wiggled my way through the water. 

When I finally got out of the water I wanted to lay down and rest, but I didn't dare. Batman could come back any second. 

So I ran.


	14. 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some cute Jason cause we all love him

I ran.   
I hadn't yet figured out where, since I didn't really know anyone that lived in this part of Gotham. 

My soaked clothes were heavy and cold. Had I not been running I would've been freezing.

I really wanted to get up onto the rooftops and parkour from house to house, but with my hands cuffed it would be a suicide mission, so I was confined to the ground, much to my dismay. 

In my mind, I was going through a list of all the people I knew would help me, or at least not try to kill me. 

I was starting to lose hope, realizing literally no one lived close by when suddenly I turned a corner and was knocked to the ground. 

I looked up and, fuck me gently with a chainsaw, it was Jason. 

He was staring at me with wide eyes. 

"Um, hi?" I said, offering Jason a small smile. 

Jason didn't say anything. He was probably scared. After all, he didn't know I was Robin. 

"Look, kid. I'm not going to hurt you. I promise" I said, letting Jason see my cuffed hands. 

"Aren't you a murderer, or something?" Jason hesitantly asked. 

"Well, yes. I do quite like to commit first-degree murder occasionally" I replied casually. 

"So, I'm running from Batman. Wanna help me?" I asked after a moment of awkward silence.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Jason mumbled before he turned around and started to leave. 

" Is that a yes?" I called after him. 

Jason stopped in his tracks. He sighed before turning back to me.   
"Fine! I'll help you. But you'll owe me one" 

Jason was smart, I'll give him that. Having me in debt to him was huge. I never accepted any deal of that sort, but this was Jason we were talking about. It would be fine.

"You have yourself a deal, kid" I grinned, offering to shake Jason's hand. 

Jason accepted the handshake and helped me up while he was at it. 

He started walking away, expecting me to follow, which I did. 

"My dad's out at the moment, but we'll have to sneak you past my stepmom. I doubt she would want you in the house, no offence" Jason explained. 

I remembered Jason had told me his stepmom was a drug addict. I wasn't a big fan of junkies. They were way too unpredictable. So I was completely fine with avoiding her.

We walked in silence for a few minutes. I noticed Jason kept me in sight the whole time. He kept his guard up. I would've been offended if it wasn't for the fact that I currently had eight weapons on me, most of them were knives. 

We eventually came to a stop in an alley. 

"Well have to get in that way," Jason said, pointing at a fire escape. 

The fire escape was a fair bit off the ground, but a dumpster and an abandoned van had been made into a staircase. 

Jason climbed up to the fire escape with some difficulty and motioned for me to follow.   
I climbed up a bit more gracefully.

"I live on the fourth floor, and the fire escape will take us right into my room. We'll have to be pretty quiet though, so my stepmom doesn't hear us" Jason explained. 

"Yeah! Sure! No problem." I replied.

We began climbing the stairs until we got to the fourth floor. Just as Jason had said there was window leading into what looked like a fairly normal teenager room. 

Jason opened the window and climbed inside, me following. 

Jason grabbed something from a desk. 

"Your hands" he demanded.

I held out my hands and Jason studied the cuffs for a moment before basically stabbing them with a pair of pliers. The cuffs broke and opened. 

"Wow! That was easy" I mumbled, rubbing my wrists. 

"Make yourself comfortable, I guess" Jason shrugged. 

I felt a bit awkward just standing there, but it felt like an asshole move to sit down anywhere in my, still wet, clothes. 

A forceful shiver ran through my body. Jason's eyes widened in realization.

"You must be freezing, dude!" he exclaimed. 

"Well, yeah, I'm kinda cold. Not that I can't handle it" I replied. 

"Hold on a second," Jason said.   
He then started rummaging through what looked like his closet. 

"Here," he said, handing me a pile of clothes. 

"Oh! Thanks! You really didn't have to" I thanked him. 

"Yeah, well, it's really not a problem" Jason assured me. 

"You can change in here. I'll just go see if I can sneak some food or something"   
And with that Jason left the room. 

I decided to take my mask off for a bit. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable thing in the world.

I then took on the challenge of taking off my suit, which stuck to my skin like glue. When I finally got it off I hung it over a chair to maybe dry a little. 

Putting on the dry clothes felt amazing. Jason had given me sweatpants, a t-shirt and a hoodie. The hoodie, I was especially thankful for. 

I put my mask back on and went to open the door to the room.

"I'm done, dude," I said to Jason waiting outside. 

Jason came back inside, holding a packet of chocolate chip cookies, and two bottles of Fanta. 

"I couldn't really find any food, so hopefully you like cookies," Jason said apologetically. 

"Are you this friendly to all murderers you invite to your home?" I asked jokingly. 

Jason punched my arm, "Oh shut up!" 

"Hey! I'm not complaining" I defended myself. 

Jason sat down on the bed and dragged me down with him. 

" Let's eat!" 

"What do I call you?" Jason asked after a few minutes of silence. 

"My name's Renegade, but people usually call me Ren" I replied. 

"I'm Jason," Jason said.

"Well, nice to meet you, Jason" 

"Yeah, you too" 

I couldn't help but notice how similar this was to when I first met Jason. I was even a bit worried he would make a connection. I had a feeling he wouldn't snitch on me or anything, but I still didn't want him to know. It could be dangerous for him. 

"So why were you running from Batman?" Jason asked. 

"Well, that's kind of a long story. I was annoying the Penguin, and all went well until some guys just barged in yelling Batman was coming. So I hid on top of a chandelier and watched as Bats cleared the whole place in like a minute. Then Batman was about to arrest Penguin, but Penguin ratted me out as the Joker's son, and Batman caught me when I tried to escape and I was knocked out. Then I woke up in Batman's car, but I managed to escape by pushing the car door open and jumping off a bridge into the water. Then I waited until Batman left before I just ran away. Then I bumped into you. And I have a feeling Batman is still looking for me" I concluded my explanation. 

"Oh" was all Jason replied.


	15. 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren and Jason chat for a bit

Jason was surprisingly cool with hiding a known murderer from Batman. The only thing he demanded in return was one of my knives.

I laid out my knives (six to be exact) on the bed and let Jason pick one. Honestly, a small price for what I was asking.

Jason picked them up one by one and studied them closer. Nothing seemed to spike his interest until he picked up a thin throwing knife.

The blade was sharp, could probably cut through bone if I tried, and was so polished it basically substituted as a mirror.

The handle was nothing fancy, really. It was just a dark red leather grip.

"This one!" Jason decided, balancing the knife on his finger, well, attempting to anyway.

"Good choice!" I commented, pocketing the rest of the knives again, "though if I find out you've accidentally cut off your finger or something while using it I'll find you and scold you into oblivion"

Jason nodded, though I could tell his attention was completely on the knife. I doubted he even heard what I said.

I suddenly felt a buzz in one of the pockets in my belt.

My phone!

I thought for sure it had been completely destroyed by the water, but apparently not. Honestly, I wasn't even aware it was waterproof.

Anyway, I fished it out and answered the call, not really checking who it was.

"Sup"

It was dad's voice that greeted me on the other end.

"Hi, kiddo! It's getting pretty late. Where are you?" dad asked.

"Yeah, sorry for not calling. It's kinda a long story, but I had to jump off a bridge to escape Batman and I forgot my phone was waterproof so I didn't think to call" I explained.

Dad wasn't mad. He knew I could handle myself. After all, he trained me for years. He was just worried.

"Where are you now? Do you want me to come pick you up?" he asked.

I glanced over to Jason. I didn't really want him to meet dad. He had enough shit going on in his life as it was.

Maybe if I waited for dad outside, a bit further away from Jason? Yes! That would work!

"Yeah, if it's not too much trouble. I'll text you the address. Bye!" I hung up.

"Who was that?" Jason asked.

"Just dad. He's going to pick me up, and I'm going to wait a bit away from here. I don't really want him near you, in case he's being weird" I explained.

"Oh. Well, nice meeting you, despite the whole murderer-on-the-run thing" Jason said.

"Uh, yeah, you too. And thanks for, you know, not calling the cops" oh god, that sounded awkward.

"Do you want a bag for that?" Jason asked, nodding his head toward my probably still soaked suit.

"Yes, please"

"By the way, I don't really need those clothes back, they're too big anyway, so you can keep them," Jason said.

"You sure?" I asked.

Jason nodded.

He then went to get a bag for my suit.

~~~

Just as I planned I hurried to the next block and texted dad the address. It only took him about seven minutes to arrive, having most likely broken several traffic laws on the way.

"What's with the outfit?" dad asked as I climbed into the passenger seat.

"My suit got soaked so I broke into some random house who'd left their window open and stole some dry clothes," I said, you know, like a liar.

Dad accepted my explanation and started driving.

"So how was it being so close to the Bat?" dad asked after a minute.

"Well", I tried to recall everything that happened, "at first I was just impressed by his fighting. I mean, he took out the whole room in no time. But then the Penguin ratted me out and I had to come out of hiding. That was really scary. Honestly, I think it's the cape, Batman really knows how to be dramatic"

"The Penguin did WHAT?" dad shouted, making me flinch.

"Dad, don't do anything stupid!" I begged.

He was going to do something impulsive and idiotic. I just knew it!

Dad didn't seem to listen. I knew he was already planning at least seventeen different ways to kill the Penguin.

"Dad! I can take care of myself" I snapped.

The car came to a stop at a red light.

Dad turned to me.

"Ren, the Penguin is the reason you got hurt! I'm going to kill him!"

Dad's voice cracked.

He took a shaky breath, calming himself.

"I-I just want you to be safe" he almost whispered.

~~~

Nothing else was said the rest of the way. What was there to be said? Was I supposed to apologize? Hell no! Was dad supposed to apologize? I don't know. Maybe?

When we arrived home it was a relief to leave the suffocating silence in the car.

Dad unlocked the front door and held it open for me. I mumbled a 'thanks' and moved past him.

~~~

After dinner, and mom scolding me for not calling, I retreated to my room.

Seeing as it was quite late, and I honestly was exhausted (jumping off a bridge and running for half an hour usually does that) I didn't really feel like doing anything but go to sleep. So that's what I did.

~~~

Everything was dark. The only light source was, weirdly enough, me, as a faint glow seemed to be surrounding my form.

If I looked closely on the ground I could make out some sort of texture, maybe tile.

I started walking.

As I walked I realized nothing seemed to change about my surroundings. Everything was just black.

I decided to run a bit, maybe get some change in the scenery, but soon reverted back to walking, having accomplished absolutely nothing.

"Well, this is just fucking boring" I muttered.

If I was going to be trapped in some black void, at least make it an interesting black void.

Suddenly I felt like I was being watched.

I twirled around, but there was no one there. Only more black void.

I stayed still for a moment, listening, but the only thing I could hear was my own breathing.

I concluded it must've been all in my head.

I turned around to continue walking when I suddenly bumped into something.

I took a step back, and I fucking swear to god, I might as well had had a heart attack right then and there, for who was stood in front of me if not the Dark Knight himself.

He reached out a hand towards me. I stumbled back and tried to run away, but barely five feet later I slipped and fell to the ground.

A hand harshly grabbed my hair and forced me to my feet.

Batman was staring me down. He didn't say anything, he just stared.

His glowing white eyes were the definition of 'if looks could kill'. It felt as if they were drilling a hole through my soul.

I struggled against Batman's grip, but he just stood there, effortlessly, not even seeming to notice I was trying to get away.

"Let me go!" I screamed in frustration.

To no one's surprise, Batman kept his grip.

Suddenly a batarang materialized in Batman's other hand.

Before I could even react, the batarang came flying towards my face.


	16. 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren sleeps and dreams. A lot.

I shot up with a shout. My hands were clenched tight against my chest. My whole body was drenched in sweat. 

'Just a dream. Just a dream. Just a dream. Just a dream. Just a dream. Just a dream. Just a dream. Just a dream' I kept repeating to myself. 

Logically I know it couldn't be anything else, but our minds really are pathetic in that way. I couldn't shake the feeling that it'd been real. 

The cold white eyes, staring into mine, the hand grasping my hair, the horror I had felt. It all felt real.

Suddenly my door burst open. There stood mom and dad. 

"Sweety, are you alright? We heard you shout" mom asked, sounding worried. 

"Just a nightmare" I replied, still breathing heavily, my heart feeling as if it would explode. 

"About...?" dad asked.

It took a few moments before I was able to reply.

"Don't worry, it wasn't about them. I guess my encounter with Batman freaked me out more than I initially thought" I assured dad.

He didn't look too assured though, and neither did mom. Me still basically hyperventilating probably contributed.

I didn't say anything else, and after the silence became awkward, mom was the first to realize that I wasn't going to elaborate. 

"Do you want us to stay, or do you wish to be alone?" she asked. 

"I'm fine, mom. Just go back to sleep" I replied. 

Dad looked like he was about to protest, but mom put a hand over his mouth. 

Mom nodded and gave me a kiss on the forehead, before dragging dad out of the room and closing the door behind them. 

So now I was alone again. 

I looked at my clock. It was barely two in the morning. I considered the pros and cons of going back to sleep.

Pros:  
-I needed sleep  
-I had nothing else to do  
-My bed was comfortable  
-My eyes were already closing on their own  
-Maybe I could actually have a nice dream

Cons:  
-I would feel tired tomorrow either way  
-my nightmare could come back  
-I could wake mom and dad again  
-I would probably wake up super late in the morning (like 2 pm late)

Reviewing my mental list I noticed that the pros did seem to outweigh the cons. 

Back to sleep it is then. 

~~~

I was laying on the grass outside. It seemed to be summer, as all the trees around me, and the grass under me was a fresh green. 

Someone was laying next to me. That 'someone' was Wally. 

"Beautiful" Wally breathed out, staring up into the sky. 

"What is?" I asked, confused.

"You" Wally replied with a smirk. 

I swatted him on the arm.  
"I'm the one who's supposed to be flirting"

"Then give it a shot" Wally teased.

"I just might" 

And with that, I jumped on Wally, pinning his hands above his head. 

Wally let out a surprised yelp and his face turned bright red.

"Balance restored" I smirked. 

Wally huffed and tried to pout, but burst out laughing instead. 

"So..are you gonna let me go?" Wally eventually asked. 

"Noup!" I replied, popping the p.

Wally accepted his fate but was incredibly whiny about it. 

"Will a kiss help you endure your suffering?" I offered teasingly.

"Why yes! It seems you have the cure for my misery" Wally exclaimed dramatically. 

I leaned down and pecked Wally on the cheek. 

Wally let out a whine in disappointment. 

"Oh shush" I mumbled, before connecting our lips. 

~~~

Suddenly I was staring up at my ceiling. The green landscape was gone, as was Wally. 

A dream. 

It was quite obvious, really. Wally actually liking me back was never going to happen. And even if it did, it could never work. I knew I wouldn't change for Wally, and Wally most likely would'nt change for me. We were on completely opposite sides. Not to mention what Batman and the rest of the league had to say.

And don't give me that Romeo and Juliet forbidden love shit! They both fucking died!

Still, the dream had been amazing. I wouldn't mind dreaming it again. 

I suddenly felt super uncomfortable. I realized with a sigh that I would have to take a cold shower. 

Honestly, fuck puberty!


	17. 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason is targeted by someone and Ren gets dragged into it

I really felt like doing something normal today. The whole Batman thing had freaked me out more than I liked to admit. 

Usually, I had no problem with my enemies. Granted, my enemies were, more often than not, incredibly stupid. Batman was a whole different story. He basically needed his own category. I mean, there was a reason he was the leader of the Justice League, even without powers. 

"Bet I could beat his ass in Overwatch, though" I muttered to myself. 

The image of Batman in all his gear, sitting on a couch and aggressively smashing buttons, trying to get kills as Mei, suddenly appeared in my mind, making me do the thing you do when you see a funny meme. You know the one. 

Feeling a lot less worried about Batman, I picked up my phone and called Jason. 

"Hi, Robin!" Jason greeted. 

"Hey! Just wondering if you're free today?" I said. 

"I should be. Nothing planned at least. Why?" 

"Well, I've got some free time and I'm kinda in the mood for skating," I said.

"Totally! Right now?" 

"Sure! I can be at the park in about fifteen minutes" 

"Great! See you then!"   
Jason hung up. 

I threw on some clothes, almost grabbing the hoodie from yesterday, but thankfully realized that Jason would recognize it. 

"Mom!" I called.

"Yes, sweety?" she replied from the living room. 

"I'm going to the park!" 

"Just be home for dinner" 

"Will do" 

I grabbed everything I needed, including my self-made miniature, basically unnoticeable, version of the hologlove, that just looked like a thin silver bracelet, that I really had been working on for a while and really wanted to try out and hurried out of the house.

~~~

The subway was practically empty. Most were probably at work or school, but apparently not Jason. I wouldn't be surprised if his dad just didn't bother paying for school. 

The train stopped at my stop and I stepped off. 

The park was just outside the station, and I could see a group of kids already there. Among them was Jason. 

"Jason!" I called. 

Jason turned around and grinned at me.  
"Hey, Robin!" 

The group around Jason eyed me suspiciously. 

"So, Jason, who's this?" a girl with a purple-dyed pixie cut asked, nodding towards me.

"Robin. Nice to meet you" I replied before Jason could. 

"Last name?" the same girl asked. 

Geez! Nosy much. 

"Quinzel" I replied, using my mom's last name.

Before she could ask anything else Jason stepped between us.  
"Layla! Stop interrogating Robin!"

"I'm not! He's just shady" Layla defence herself. 

"Yeah right. Shady. Sure! A fourteen-year-old kid is shady" Jason facepalmed. 

"Whatever" Layla ended the conversation.

"Sorry about that, Robin. The regulars here are, let's say, a bit protective over me" Jason explained, a bit embarrassed over his friend's behaviour. 

"Nah dude, it's cool" I replied.

"I'm guessing you'll have to borrow my skateboard again," Jason said. 

I nodded. 

When I stepped onto it I felt just as terrified as last time. I guess that's what happens when you don't practice regularly. 

I quickly got back into it though, and once I was sure I wouldn't fall on my face and die, Jason started showing me tricks, just like last time. 

Occasionally, I could feel Lyla glaring at me, but honestly, she wasn't bothering me that much. 

After a while, one of the guys announced they had to go, and the rest one by one followed suit. Even Layla eventually left. 

Jason and I were just about to leave as well when a group of six dudes in sunglasses approached us.

"You know them?" I whispered. 

Jason shook his head. 

That meant trouble. 

I glanced behind us and noticed three more guys. They had the area covered. We were trapped. Well, correction, Jason was trapped. Me, not so much. I could probably escape without even breaking a sweat, but that would mean most likely revealing my identity to Jason, plus leaving him behind, which was not an option. So, therefore, we were trapped. 

I noticed Jason sneak his hand into his pocket, where I now realized he kept the knife I gave him. 

"Don't!" I whispered, "they'll just hurt you" 

Jason hesitantly left the knife be, to my relief. Who knows what those fucks would do. 

"Who do you work for?" I demanded, addressing one of the sunglasses-dudes that was obviously the "leader". 

He didn't answer. Go figure.

"Jason Todd. You will come with us. Do not try to escape, or there will be consequences" one of the men said. 

Jason glanced at me as if asking what to do.

"Just do as they say. We'll be fine" I promised, but not feeling entirely confident I could keep it. 

I could see Jason's hands shaking. He was most likely afraid. Me? I was more annoyed and angry than scared. How dare whoever they're working for disturb me on a good day!

"Come on! I asked you a question. Who do you work for?" I repeated. 

I was, yet again, ignored. 

"Well, that's just rude" I muttered. 

The sunglasses-dudes seemed to think we'd chatted enough, as they approached us, ready to attack if we tried anything. 

One of them grabbed my arm and tried to restrain me, but my foot instinctivly found itself connecting with the man's no-no spot. 

He let go of my arm but retaliated by drawing his weapon, a stun baton, and shoved it in my side. 

Oh God, it hurt! 

I always hated being electrocuted. It was incredibly uncomfortable and fucked with your muscles, making you spasm and stuff. 

Two other guys saw their chance and grabbed both my arms, forcing them behind me, where they were securely locked in place by a sturdy pair of handcuffs. Fuck. 

Jason too was cuffed, though it appeared he'd cooperated. Good. At least he wasn't hurt. 

"What're we doing with this one?" one of the guys holding me asked. 

The "leader" shrugged.   
"I guess we have to bring him too. He's a witness. Besides, someone will probably find a use for him"

Eww. That's disgusting. 

The men started leading me and Jason away from the park and towards the street. 

A grey van pulled up, and the doors opened. Jason and I were basically thrown into the van. Four of them stayed in the back, keeping an eye on us, and the rest went elsewhere. 

The van started moving. 

Suddenly my side cramped and I had to hold back a pained gasp. Oh, yeah. The electrocution. Body spasms! Yay! I was being very sarcastic by the way if you didn't notice. 

I found the nearest wall and propped myself up the best I could with the limited mobility of my arms. I saw Jason had down the same. 

"So, who're you working for?" I tried a third time. 

One of the guys just raised his stun baton, effectively making me shut up. For now...


	18. 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren being the sassy lil bitch he is, and Jason being adorable

Being locked in a moving van with four armed guys watching your every move wasn't fun. It wasn't the worst situation I'd ever been in, but unpleasant none the less. 

Every now and then I glanced over at Jason. He was terrified. There were dried tears on his cheeks, and his eyes were red. 

I didn't know how long it had been until I couldn't stand the silence anymore. 

"Are we there yet?" 

One of the men shot me a glare, but nothing more. Shame. 

"You know, this conversation is dryer than the Sahara desert. Communication only works if it goes both ways" 

Another glare. 

"Jesus Christ you guys are boring!" I sighed. 

I finally got their attention. Unfortunately, that attention happened to be a stun baton to my arm. Ugh. 

"Vă voi distruge linia de sânge, nenorocită!"   
The Romanian insult rolled off my tongue before I could stop it. Instinct, I suppose. 

"What the hell did you just say to me?" the dude who stunned me demanded. 

"Wouldn't you like to know" I hissed. 

Then he knocked me the fuck out. 

~~~

I awoke with a throbbing pain in my head. Hopefully not a concussion. 

Then I noticed the lack of engine noises. We weren't in the van anymore! 

My eyes shot open and searched frantically for Jason. I quickly relaxed once I saw him next to me, tied to a chair. I looked down and found myself in the same situation. 

I carefully looked around. We seemed to be in some sort of warehouse (cliché, I know). Two of the sunglasses dudes were sitting by the door, playing cards. They were not doing a very good job of watching their prisoners. 

"Jason?" I whispered. 

"Robin! Thank God you're awake! You were out for a while and I was getting really worried" Jason whispered back.

"Never mind me, are you hurt?" I needed to know. 

Jason shook his head.   
"Just a couple bruises. Nothing to worry about"

We fell silent, not really having anything to talk about.

I tried to think of a plan to get us out. The easiest would be for me to just slam my chair into the ground and break it Natasha Romanov style, and then just kill the guys guarding us, but that would definitely blow my cover.

I could just try annoying them until they let us go.

To be honest, playing along seemed like the best option at the moment, and if things got out of hand, I could always revert back to plan A. Murder.

~~~

Jason and I had, having nothing else to do, resorted to playing rock paper scissors, though with slight difficulty as our hands were tied behind us when there was a banging on the door. 

The guards immediately pushed their card game aside and hid it under a newspaper, before grabbing their guns and opening the door.

Maybe I could finally get some answers to why they wanted Jason.

Of all the people I suspected, Two-face (or Harvey Dent) was definitely not one of them. 

I'd never really met the guy properly, and he didn't even know who I was, as he'd only seen me with my mask on. 

Dad and Harvey weren't really on good terms, as it technically was dad's fault Harvey became Two-face in the first place but they managed to stay civil with each other, mostly to avoid attention from Batman, I'd guess. 

Harvey strode into the room, followed by four heavily armed men, most likely acting as bodyguards. 

He stopped a few feet away, his eyes falling on me. 

"Who is the other brat?" he asked. 

One of the men shrugged   
"No idea. They were together when we got there. Figured it would be better to take him with us than leave a witness" 

Harvey scoffed.   
"Then why is he alive?" 

The men looked uneasy. Child murder probably wasn't high on the list of things they wanted to have on their conscious. 

"He might know something" one of them finally said. 

"You haven't questioned him?" Harvey hissed. 

"No, boss. We wanted to wait for your orders, boss" the same man replied. 

Harvey sighed but accepted the excuse. 

Harvey stepped closer to me, completely ignoring Jason.

"Now who do we have here?" he questioned, speaking to me. 

"Joe," I said. 

Harvey squinted his eyes, "Joe, who?"

"Joe mama!" I grinned. 

I couldn't believe he fell for that. 

Then a fist connected with my face. Oof. 

I could from the corner of my eye see Jason staring at me in absolute shock. 

Harvey composed himself. 

"Who are you?" he demanded, obviously not in the mood for my jokes. 

It was probably a good idea to play along. I didn't feel like receiving a beating today. 

"Robin Quinzel" I replied. 

One of the guys scurried off, probably to look up the name. 

"Well then, Robin. We'll have to decide what to do with you, " Harvey fished out his signature coin from his pocket, "Heads, you live, tails, you die" 

Oh no. This wasn't good at all. 

He flicked the coin into the air. 

I followed the coin with my eyes, as it reached its peak, and started singling downward. My heart sunk as I watched the coin fall into Harvey's open hand, certain I'd just witnessed my doom. 

I swear I almost laughed when Harvey flipped the coin onto his wrist, and I saw the shiny face of my saviour. Heads. I wasn't going to die. 

Next to me, Jason let out a shaky sigh of what I guessed was relief. 

Harvey frowned but trusted his coin.   
"Seems you're one lucky bastard" he commented, before pocketing his coin. 

He then moved over to Jason, who did everything he could to avoid looking at Harvey. 

"Do you know who I am, Jason?" Harvey asked. 

Jason nodded, still avoiding the man. 

"Good boy" Harvey smirked.

Jason and I both cringed. 

"Do you know why you're here then?" Harvey then asked. 

Jason shook his head. 

"Oh? You don't? Daddy dearest didn't tell you?" Harvey faked surprise. 

Jason looked up, obviously confused. 

By now I worked it out though. Jason's dad had messed with Harvey, and Jason was paying the price. 

"Well that won't do. I say we let your dad explain himself" 

Two men walked up with a laptop and set it up in front of us. A webcam popped up, showing Jason in the centre of the frame, and me in the corner since I obviously wasn't the important one here. 

A call started, and after a few seconds, it was answered. 

A bloodied face popped up on the screen, and Jason gasped harshly. Was that his dad?

"Son!" the man cried, confirming my suspicion. 

Harvey crouched next to Jason, coming into view of Jason's dad, who's face went from worry and shock, to complete horror. 

They began talking, but I was only half listening. Most of my attention was focused on my miniature hologlove. The one I conveniently brought to test for the first time. Remember? 

As everyone's attention was on Jason and Harvey, I was safe to try to call for help. Having an open laptop right there made it so much easier. 

Despite my handicap of barely being able to see what I was typing, I managed to get past the laptop's security and get the exact coordinates of the laptop, therefore giving me our location. 

Suddenly a subtle buzz from the hologlove told me that there was someone listening to the call. A quick prod at the newcomer's firewalls made me 90% sure it was Batman. 

A very risky plan formed in my head. 

I took another glance at our coordinates. 281, 105. 

I took a deep breath and prepared to be dramatic again. 

"Hey, fuckers! I'm bored!" 

Everyone's attention turned to me. 

"Shut the fuck up, kid!" one of the men growled, annoyed. 

"Go fuck yourself!" I'll admit, I was probably being more dramatic than I needed to be. 

But it got the job done, as the man hit me with his gun. Right in my stomach. 

Now for my plan. 

"You fucking căţea! Suntem la două opt unu și la zero cinci!" 

I had just told Batman our coordinates and hopefully disguised it as random insults. Now my plan depended on Batman knowing Romanian or at least realizing to translate it. 

"What the hell did he just say?" Harvey questioned. 

"Called him a bitch" I snapped.   
Technically I wasn't lying. I did start by calling the man a bitch. 

Harvey smirked.  
"A feisty one, I see" 

Then he ignored me, which was more than I could've ever hoped for. I'd already prepared to at least get a beating, but it seemed Harvey was even slightly amused by my outburst. 

Then the weight of what I'd just done dawned on me. I'd asked Batman, the dark knight, the one who wanted me imprisoned, to save us. 

Oh boy, I was fucked.


	19. 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren fucks shit up

The conversation between Harvey and Jason's dad continued as if nothing had just happened, but I kept getting glares from the men. Almost as if daring me to disturb them again. They better quit it or I just might. 

A few moments later my hologlove buzzed again, signalling that Batman had left the call. Hopefully, that meant he'd understood my message and was on his way. If not, I'd have to do something stupid. 

Having nothing else to do I turned my attention to the call.

Jason's dad was crying.   
"You have to understand! I had no choice, Jason!" he pleaded desperately. 

I literally saw something in Jason snap. 

"No!" Jason screamed, startling his dad, as well as three of the men.   
"No, you always have a choice! You could've gotten a job at fucking Walmart or something, but no! You had to get involved with Two-face of all people. And to top that off, you suddenly think that you can get away with betraying him just like that. How did you not think something like this would happen?"

Jason finished his rant with tears of anger running down his cheeks, and his whole body was shaking. 

"Son-" Jason's dad started, but Jason cut him off.   
"Don't. This is your fault" 

Jason's dad let out a defeated sigh. I think he finally realized how badly he really fucked up. 

"Now that we're all caught up on the situation, I believe some sort of punishment is in place," Harvey said, sounding way too cheery. 

Harvey took out his coin again and seemed to silently decide what the coin's sides meant this time.

He flipped the coin, frowning when it came down.   
"No, that'll not do" he muttered, before flipping the coin again. 

This time he smirked. Bad sign. 

Harvey held out his hand toward one of the men, who handed him a gun. Harvey weighed the gun in his hand for a moment, before pointing it at Jason. 

I realized too late what was happening. The gun went off and the bullet embedded itself in Jason's shoulder. It took a second for the pain to hit him, but, oh god, the scream that followed was enough to give anyone nightmares.

"JASON!" I screamed. 

Another shot was fired, hitting Jason in the leg. 

"No! Please, don't hurt him!" his dad pleaded. 

Harvey, smirking, lowered the gun and handed it to one of his men. 

"You don't want me to hurt your son, Mr. Todd?" he asked, keeping eye contact with Jason's dad. 

"P-please. I'll do anything. Just don't hurt my son" Jason's dad stuttered out. 

Harvey's smile was a bit unsettling.   
"Anything?" 

Jason's dad nodded weakly. 

"Well then, you will tell commissioner Gordon to go to the docs tonight to intercept a trade. Then you'll take the blame when the commissioner dies. Understood?" 

Jason's dad looked hesitant, but when Harvey placed a what would've been a comforting hand on Jason's shoulder, if not for the wound, and Jason had to bite back a scream, Jason's dad quickly agreed. 

"Then it's settled. You will be dropped off close to the station. And remember, it's not only you who will pay if you even think of betraying me again" Harvey said, before closing the laptop and ending the call. 

"Take the other away. I'm going to have a little chat with Jason" Harvey ordered. 

I think the fuck not! 

"Don't you fucking dare, you overgrown fucktard of a carrot!" I yelled when one of the men tried to grab me. 

My comment was, unsurprisingly, ignored. 

The man untied me from the chair but left my hands tied together. I was then rudely hoisted over his shoulder like a ragdoll, which I was definitely going to kill him for. 

I looked back at Jason, who had gone pale, realizing he'd be alone with Harvey, and I just wanted to give him a hug and promise that everything would be okay. 

I tried to think of something comforting to say, but I was dragged out of the room before I could even open my mouth. 

The man took me to what had once probably been an office, but all that remained was a broken office chair, a dim flickering light in the ceiling, and a bookshelf with only a stack of old newspapers. 

The man put me down -more like threw me onto the floor- next to some sort of pipe. He tied me to the pipe, the rope feeling like it was cutting off the circulation in my hands. 

"Now you be a good boy, and I won't put a bullet in your head. Okay?" the man said before leaving the room, though I didn't hear any footsteps going away, so I assumed he'd stayed right outside as a guard. 

I quickly scanned the room for cameras, or any other surveillance equipment, but found none. Not really too surprising, considering Harvey's plan had originally been to kidnap just Jason; I was just a bonus, so of course they hadn't prepared extra.

Seeing as I was practically unsupervised at the moment, I made an attempt at sending out a less obscure call for help. It failed. My hand movement was too restricted, and the pipe made it impossible to even get a glimpse of the screen. Guess I was back to relying on Batman.

~~~

No one bothered me for a while. It was just me and my thoughts (not a very pleasant company, I might add).

I was in this constant state of worry for Jason. I mean, the kid had gotten shot two times for fuck's sake! There was no way he was okay.

I tugged tentatively on my restraints, but it only seemed to make the knots even tighter. 

Realizing there wasn't really anything I could do, I drew my knees to my chest and leaned my head against the cold wall. 

With literally nothing to do I settled on trying to memorize everything about the room, something I'd been doing from time to time to train my memory and observation skills. 

I started with the walls. They were made of cement, with a sickly green coat of paint flaking off in many places, and completely missing in others. I counted seventeen cracks, plus a random golf ball-sized dent in the wall to my left. There also seemed to be some sort of water damage spreading from the top of the walls. Yuck. 

The ceiling was crammed with pipes and wires. You almost couldn't see the once-white tiles. Though that might've been for the best anyway, as the same disgusting dampness from the walls seemed to have originated in the ceiling. There was also a tile missing, now laying on the floor below.

The floor looked like it was straight out of SAW, with unidentifiable stains scattered across it, and random piles of trash. There was a cracked wooden plank in one of the corners. Maybe remains of some sort of desk. 

The light suddenly flickered aggressively, turned off for almost half a minute, before coming back on, accompanied by a slightly concerning buzz. That was sure to be some sort of OSHA-violation. 

I was about to continue what I was doing when I heard a scream. Jason's scream.


	20. 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren fucks shit up. Again.

If someone told me a few months ago that I would be tied up in an old office, worrying my ass off over an 11-year-old, I would've laughed in their face. Yet, here I was, desperately tugging in my restraints, doing everything I could to get free and save Jason. 

I wasn't having much luck. 

The only progress I'd made was cutting my wrists open trying to wrangle myself out of the rope. Not that it bothered me anyway. I was way too pumped on adrenaline. 

Since that first scream, there had been three more screams. Each more pained and heartbreaking than the last one. 

I tugged harder and felt something in my right wrist pop. I knew that would really hurt in a few minutes. 

Then my hand scraped against something sharp. A screw stinging out from the pipe. It wasn't more than a millimetre or two, but it would easily be enough to cut the rope. 

I began to saw at the rope, feeling the fibres slowly but surely break. 

There was another scream. 

I was already halfway through the rope. 

Suddenly the rope tore, releasing me. 

I rubbed my wrists, quickly assessing the damage. My right wrist was dislocated, but I easily popped it back into place. The wounds around my wrists were starting to sting a bit but didn't really have any effect on my ability to fight. And fight was exactly what was going to do. 

I knocked on the door. The man outside was obviously surprised and swung the door open, gun ready. 

I kicked him in the kneecap, making his leg bend the wrong way, and followed up with a knee to his chin. 

The man fell to the ground, unconscious. I picked up his gun and considered shooting him, but that would make too much noise. 

Instead, I pressed a foot down on his throat. Hard. I didn't stop until I heard a crack. That was one problem dealt with.

I looked around. I was in a long empty corridor, with a few doors evenly spaced out. I wasn't 100% sure which way was the right one, but I was fairly certain it was left.

I checked the gun I'd taken. It was almost fully loaded, and the safety was off. Good. 

I started sprinting down the corridor and was thankful when I didn't come across any junctions, only turns. As I moved, I began to hear voices. Specifically Harvey's and Jason's. This had been the right way then. 

I soon recognized where I was, and slowed down until my footsteps we're barely audible. I stopped just one turn before the door I knew Jason was behind. I carefully peaked around the corner. There were two men guarding the door. I didn't want to waste my element of surprise yet, so just shooting them wasn't an option. 

I looked to the floor for something to throw and saw a loose price of cement from one of the walls. I picked it up, weighed it in my hand for a moment, before throwing it. 

The sound caught the guards' attention and they moved to check. 

As soon as I saw the first guard come around the corner I kicked his head into the wall and he crumbled to the floor. 

The second guy raised his gun at me, but I ducked and punched him in the stomach. He doubled over, wheezing for air, and I forced the gun out of his grasp. 

With the two guards down, I listened for any approaching footsteps, in case I'd somehow been too loud, but the voices behind the door continued as earlier. 

I gave the guards the same treatment as the previous guy.

With that over and done with, I snuck up to the door and opened it just an inch. There were three more guards inside, and then there was Harvey himself. All were armed and probably wouldn't hesitate to kill me. 

Of course, Jason was there too, still tied to the chair, but there was a concerning amount of a dark liquid pooled on the floor underneath him. 

I took a moment to consider my options. Either I just shot up the place, a sure and quick way to save Jason, or I could be sneaky about it and maybe lure the guards away like I did before. 

My decision was made for me when Jasin cried out in pain. 

I kicked the door open and opened fire at the closest guard, making sure at least one of the bullets found his head. I turned my gun on the next guard and hit him four times in the chest. He fell to the floor, gargling blood. 

The third guy fired his gun in my direction but missed. I didn't return the favour. I never missed. 

I turned to Harvey. He was reaching for the gun on the table. 

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Who knows, my finger might slip" I growled. 

Harvey drew his hand back with a sneer but was smart enough to understand what a bullet would do to his skull. 

"Leave!" I commanded. 

I wasn't an idiot. If I killed Harvey I would just place a target on myself as Robin. No, the best option was to let him go. 

Harvey hesitated. He obviously wasn't fond of taking orders but seemed to value his life more than his pride as he almost ran out the door once I fired a shot right by his feet. 

Once I was sure he was gone I dropped the gun and sprinted over to Jason. 

Jason was barely conscious, struggling to lift his head. From just a quick look I saw a cut across Jason's collarbone and several dark stains of blood on his hoodie. 

"Jason! Can you hear me?" 

Jason groaned and clenched his jaw. He was in a lot of pain. 

"Okay, listen. We don't have much time. Harvey is probably getting reinforcement as we speak, so we have to get out fast. Can you do that for me?" 

Jason nodded. 

"Do you still have your knife?" I asked.

Another nod. 

I reached into his pocket and drew out the blade I'd given him. I used it to cut the rope, and with nothing holding him up, Jason collapsed against me. 

I put his arm around my shoulder and began making my way to the door. I picked up one of the dead guards' guns on the way, not really wanting to find myself unarmed against Harvey's men again. 

Jason did his best to walk, but I was still carrying most of his weight, and as we walked through more and more corridors he became heavier and heavier. We hadn't seen anyone yet, so that was something. 

Then suddenly as we turned yet another corner a breeze of fresh air hit us. The open front door was right there. 

"Jason, look!" 

Jason lifted his head, and the tiniest hint of a smile graced his face. 

I quickened the pace wanting to leave this place as soon as possible. Then we were out in the open. The moonlight shone down on us, reflecting in the blood covering both Jason and I. 

"Were out, Jason." I grinned. 

Bang

A gunshot...


	21. 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Batdad

I felt the bullet slice through my side. It felt like someone had stabbed me with a 1000-degree knife. 

I screamed and fell to the ground, barely managing to catch myself. Jason fell too, as I was the only thing holding him up. 

The shooter stepped out of the shadows. He looked to be just another one of Harvey's henchmen.

I bit back a groan when I shifted and pain spiked up. I attempted to sit up, but a gun was quickly pointed right in my face. 

"Don't move!" the man demanded, cocking the gun.

There was another wave of pain, and a whimper escaped my lips. I could feel the blood seeping through my hoodie, staining it. 

"Don't" I warned. Though I doubted the man would take any advice from me. 

"You shouldn't have messed with Boss!" the man growled. 

His voice was wavering slightly. I wouldn't be surprised if he was new to the job. His hand was shaking, but he kept his finger on the trigger. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Then he fired. 

Suddenly a black figure jumped in front of me, blocking the bullet with what looked to be a piece of scrap metal. 

"B-batman!" the man stuttered, backing up. 

Batman threw a batarang, which hit the man's hand, making him drop his gun. The man did a 180 and ran away as fast as he could. He didn't get far though, as Batman calmly threw some sort of rope thing which twisted around the man's legs, tripping him, and sending him crashing to the ground.  
I was fascinated by his tactic.

Suddenly there was yet another wave of pain and I started coughing violently. I watched in horror as drops of blood fell from my mouth onto the ground. 

Batman immediately rushed over to me and kneeled beside me. 

"Hang in there, kid. We're gonna get you help" Batman's voice was surprisingly smooth. None of that gruffness it usually held. I'd never heard him speak like that before. It did sound familiar though, but where did I know it from?

When I finally stopped coughing, and there was a neat little puddle of blood on the ground, and tears of pain in my eyes, I attempted to sit up, but Batman stopped me. 

"You'll hurt yourself more if you move. Stay put. I'll help you" 

"I'm fine. You have to help Jason" I waved him away. 

To be fair, Jason was in a much worse state than I, and I was positive I wouldn't bleed out too fast. 

Batman seemed to have come to the same conclusion, as he, after a reassuring look, turned to Jason, who was on the verge of passing out, his eyes rolled back into his head.

Batman noticed all the blood on Jason's hoodie, and carefully lifted it. He gasped when he saw all the wounds littering Jason's body. It was so much worse than I'd first thought. 

"I-is he gonna be okay?" I asked. 

Batman was silent for a moment. 

"He'll be okay" he then said. 

I had a feeling he was just lying to make me feel better, but I just accepted the answer.

Batman tapped something on his wrist, and the batmobile suddenly drove into view by itself. The doors opened and Batman carefully lifted Jason and carried him to the car, where he was sat down in the backseat. 

Batman then came back to me. 

"I'll need to carry you to the car, okay?" Batman said. 

I just nodded. It wasn't like I had a choice anyway, as there was no way I'd be able to walk there. 

Batman scooped me into his arms. The movement had me biting my tongue as to not let out a scream. He carried me over to the car and put me down in the front seat. He didn't seem to worry about blood getting onto the fancy-looking leather of the seat. He then swiftly fastened mine and Jason's seat belts, before getting in the driver-side and starting the car. 

"What about the guy?" I asked, nodding toward where the guy was probably laying. 

"I already called the police. They'll get here before he can escape" Batman reassured.

Suddenly a wave of nausea hit me, and I slumped against the car door, covering my mouth with my hand. 

"You're losing blood, kid. I need to put pressure on the wound" Batman informed me, though his voice seemed muffled as if I was underwater. 

I felt something wrap tightly around my body, covering the wound. 

"Are you going to throw up?" Batman asked. 

I was about to nod when the nauseous feeling started to subdue. I shook my head in response, carefully sitting back up properly. 

Batman just nodded and started driving. 

~~~

I wasn't really sure where Batman was taking us, though I assumed the hospital. 

He'd been driving for a few minutes, doing less-than-legal turns and ignoring several red lights. I had a vague idea of where we were. Another skipped red light and another turn later, the large building of Gotham's hospital came into view. 

Batman parked the car halfway up onto the sidewalk. A dick move, honestly, but it wasn't like he was going to get a ticket since, you know, he's Batman. 

A small crowd quickly formed around us, people pulling out their phones to take pictures or videos of the dark knight. Batman didn't look too pleased. He pushed a button, and a loud noise sounded from the car, startling the crowd. Even I flinched a little. 

Some of the crowd seemed to have gotten the message, as they backed away, everyone else slowly following their example. 

Once the crowd was dispersed enough for Batman's liking, he exited the car, went around, and opened my side. He picked me up, causing the pain to flare up again, and I bit my sleeve to prevent myself from screaming. 

Batman scouted the crowd, his eyes landing on a fairly muscular blond man.  
"There's a kid in the backseat. Help me get him inside" he ordered. 

The man hesitated only for a second, before obeying. 

Jason seemed to somehow still be clinging to consciousness, letting out a small groan as he was picked up. 

We were rushed to the ER entrance. Two nurses immediately greeted us. 

"GSW on his left side. It happened about fifteen minutes ago. He almost threw up ten minutes ago. Possibly other injuries" Batman informed the nurses as he followed them to an empty bed and put me down. 

He was then ushered away by a doctor.

Someone cut open my hoodie and shirt, peeling them away from the wound. Someone else approached me with a needle, sticking it into my arm and connecting it to an iv.

It appeared the blood loss was getting to me, as I started to feel numb. The sounds faded, and my eyes seemed to close on their own. I couldn't even move my body. I faded into blissful unconsciousness.


	22. 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren wakes up in the hospital

I slowly came to, immediately greeted by an annoying beeping sound.   
Beep.  
Beep.  
Beep.  
And so on. 

I forced my eyes open and squinted at the brightness of the room. It wasn't terribly bright, but still too bright for my taste. 

I opened my eyes for a second time, being more careful now, and glanced around the room. I was a bit confused, as I didn't recognize my surroundings, but the events of yesterday eventually caught up to me. Now that I thought about it, was it even yesterday? How long had I been out? 

I decided not to dwell on it too much. There was no use worrying over stuff I had no power over. 

Instead, I questioned where I was. It was definitely the hospital, but it wasn't the same room as before. There were five other beds in the room, two of them occupied. 

The annoying beeping was coming from a machine attached to me by a weird thing on my finger. It seemed to be measuring something. 

There was a needle in my hand, the connected tube taped down as to not get ripped out. The tube was connected to a bag with some clear liquid, perhaps painkillers, as I wasn't really in too much pain. 

I carefully pushed the cover aside and took a look at the wound where the bullet had hit me. It was covered in bandages.

Suddenly the door to the room opened, and a nurse stepped inside. He took a quick look around, before noticing me. 

"Oh, you're awake! Great! How are you feeling?" he asked. 

"Okay, I guess" I replied. 

I then yawned, feeling a need to go back to sleep. 

The nurse didn't let me. He instead started asking questions. 

”Can you tell me what day it is?” he asked.

”Um, well, depends of how long I've been out. Last time I checked, it was Thursday” I answered. 

”You were out for about twelve hours. It's currently Friday” the nurse informed.

”Do you know where you are?” was his next question. 

”Gotham Hospital” I replied.

”And do you remember why you're here?” he then asked. 

”Well, it couldn't be because of the gunshot wound, could it” I deadpanned. 

The nurse nodded, deciding to ignore my obvious sarcasm.

”No memory loss at least” he mumbled. 

"Think you can handle being moved to an actual room? You're still in the recovery room” he then asked. 

"I guess," I said. 

"Great! I'll get someone to move you in a few minutes" he then left. 

Indeed, a few minutes later a woman came in and moved me to my own room. 

~~~

I was really bored. The woman had left immediately, and there was nothing to do. I'd noticed my holo-bracelet was gone, probably removed by the staff, along with the rest of my belongings. I'd have to ask for them the next time someone came to check on me. 

I waited only a few minutes longer before the door opened, and the same nurse from before stepped inside. 

"Hi again! I'm Andy. I realized I didn't tell you before" Andy grinned. 

I didn't say anything. I wasn't sure what to say. Was I supposed to introduce myself? 

"What do I call you?" he then asked, just as the silence started to become awkward. 

"Robin," I told him. 

"Okay, Robin. So, we haven't managed to find any medical records of yours, do you know why?” Andy asked.

Time to lie. 

”I'm not from the US. I moved here just recently. Maybe everything isn't settled yet” I lied. Well, half lied. It was true that I wasn't from the US. 

”It that case, would you mind answering some questions, just so we can give you the best treatment possible?" Andy easily bought the lie. 

I nodded. 

Andy moved a chair next to my bed and sat down. This was apparently going to take a while. 

"So, we need your full name and birthday, for starters," Andy said.

"Robin John Quinzel. My birthday is March 21st" I replied, using my actual middle name. 

"And how old are you?" 

"Fourteen" 

Andy scribbled something on a paper. 

"Do you have anyone we can call?" Andy asked. 

I immediately shook my head. There was no way I could let mom and dad near a hospital. Who knew what they would do when they found out I got hurt. 

"I see. Well, we'll have to contact someone professional to take care of you, alright?" 

I tensed, memories of how I almost ended up in juvie a few years ago resurfacing. 

"Oh no, you really don't have to. I might have someone to call. They're not currently in Gotham though. They're in Central" wow, I was really desperate. 

Andy looked almost relieved. He probably wanted to avoid all the paperwork and effort.   
"Do you know their number?" 

"No, but it's in my watch, you know those fancy ones, if you can get it back for me" I lied a little. The 'watch' was just my holo-bracelet.

Andy nodded.  
"Of course. I'll tell someone to bring it. Do you want the rest of your stuff now as well?" 

I nodded. 

Andy called someone on a phone.  
"Hey, the kid Batman dropped off yesterday, can we get his stuff to room 305?......thanks" 

Not long after, a woman opened the door and handed Andy a small TSA-looking box. 

"Here you go!" Andy held out the box to me.

I reached in and grabbed the bracelet, putting it on. 

"Dam, that looks fancy" Andy commented. 

I brought up the screen and connected to my phone, which was at home, charging. I brought up my contacts and clicked on Wally's. 

Not even ten seconds later Wally answered. 

"Sup, Robin! I missed you, man. I tried calling yesterday, but you didn't answer" 

"Um, hi, Wally.. Well, how do I say this... My friend Jason and I were kidnapped by Two-Face because Jason’s dad messed up, and now I'm kinda in the hospital, and I didn't really have anyone else to call" 

Wally was silent for a moment.   
"WHAT? You got kidnapped?" 

Wally was definitely freaking out. 

"Um, yeah. So, how much does your uncle like me? Cause I kinda need an adult to take responsibility for me, or else they have to get child services or something" I explained the problem. 

”What about your parents?” Wally asked.

Fuck. I never said anything about that. I had to come up with an excuse. 

”They're on a business trip in Europe. They won't be able to get here” I lied. 

"Well, you're in luck. We’re actually in Gotham for a few days, so we can be there within the hour. As for Barry, he still hasn't stopped teasing me about you, so I would say he definitely likes you" Wally said. 

I suspected he was lying. There was no way he just conveniently happened to be in Gotham. He and Barry were definitely going to run all the way here.

"Are you sure it's not going to be bothersome?" I asked, genuinely not wanting to cause him any trouble. 

"Dude, it's fine! Don't worry!" Wally reassured. "Gotham hospital, right?" he then asked. 

"Yeah" I confirmed.

"I'll see you then"   
Wally hung up.


End file.
